Charles Benton's blog

Chairman’s Year End Message 2013

The New Year is both a time to reflect on the challenges and accomplishments of the past 12 months and a time to be excited about the future. As the Benton Foundation closes 2013, here’s what I’m most proud of – and what has me reenergized for 2014.

Time to Reflect

We are coming to the close of 2012 with heavy hearts. The senseless violence that ended the lives of 20 young children and 8 adults, including six heroic teachers and administrators in Newtown, Connecticut concerns all of us. As Americans, we all lost some innocence on that fateful day.

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Charles Benton
30th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Award
September 25, 2012
(prepared remarks)

Everett Parker is a role model for us all. That is why for my comments today I called several old friends to ask how he had inspired them. Let’s begin with Andy Schwartzman, who started as a young assistant to Earl K. (Dick) Moore, Everett’s lawyer on the WLBT case.

Andy’s three insights from Everett were:

The public interest community and media reform movement suffered a major body blow today, when the Media Access Project (MAP) announced it will suspend operation next month. I personally have looked to my friend and colleague Andy Schwartzman for leadership and guidance on media policy issues for more than three decades. Under his tenure, MAP has been at the forefront of major telecommunications and media policy fights, always with the mission of representing the public interest.

As the Benton Foundation closes out our 30th year as an organization dedicated to the ideal of media and telecommunications serving the public interest and enhancing our democracy, here are some thoughts on our major activities during these past twelve months.

After a review of the purported benefits and early analysis of the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, the Benton Foundation urges the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission to reject a deal that offers no public interest dividend.

First and foremost, the acquisition will combine the 2nd and 4th largest wireless carriers in the US. Undoubtedly, this combination will reduce competition in this market and will result in fewer choices for consumers, higher prices, and less innovation.

By Charles Benton

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama said our generation’s Sputnik moment is upon us. President Obama likened our recent economic setbacks to a key moment in October 1957 when Americans saw our scientific leadership in the world fall from first to second as a small beeping sphere sped through the night sky. I strongly agree. And I see broadband as a key element in our response to Sputnik 2.

By Charles Benton

Charles Benton

March 16, 2010

To paraphrase poet Robert Burns,

"The best laid plans of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!"

By Charles Benton and Kate Williams Ph.D.

On December 17, Vice President Joe Biden began rolling out $2 billion in broadband stimulus grants. Grants to extend broadband's reach across the country will be announced over the next 75 days.

Why is broadband data and research so critical? ARRA-funded projects represent an unprecedented opportunity to fill the enormous knowledge gap we have with respect to what works and what does not work in broadband deployment and broadband adoption.