Research shows that African Americans are newer to the Internet than many other population segments, but also more active in using mobile technology to access the Internet. This means that African Americans rely on search engines to help them find information they need online -- and they know that the Internet is often the only place to find key information on jobs, health care, and other topics. Policymakers must, therefore, cultivate an environment where search results are trusted and reliable -- while ensuring that the companies that provide search services can continue to innovate in a rapidly evolving online ecosystem.

As the Federal Trade Commission examines practices of companies providing search services, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is ready to work with all stakeholders to ensure that search engines serves the needs of consumers -- in an environment that supports innovation.
 

Download the press release by clicking the icon below.

On December 13, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski urging the FCC to develop a robust record on minority and female broadcast media ownership before it considers relaxing rules intended to promote media ownership diversity. The Joint center notes the recent release of the FCC’s broadcast ownership report, but said the report does not contain reliable data dispositive of either how relaxing the FCC’s media ownership rules will favor minority and female broadcast ownership or whether relaxing the rules would not buttress existing market entry barriers.

See the article at the Benton Foundation.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies submitted a response to the Federal Communications Commission regarding MB Docket No. 07-294, Promoting Diversification of Ownership in the Broadcasting Services. In this letter, Joint Center President and CEO Ralph B. Everett, along with Vice President and Media and Technology Institute Director Dr. John Horrigan, discusses the FCC's recent Commercial Broadband Station Ownership report and subsequent plans to relax rules intended to protect diversity in media ownership. Namely, the Joint Center argues that there is not enough data on minority and female media ownership to justify changes in ownership rules at this time.

To read the letter in its entirety, click the icon below.

The Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business will present The Wireless Tax Premium: Economic Consequences for American Consumers and for the Future of the Mobile Economy on Friday, December 14, 2012, at the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, DC. This presentation will assess the economic costs of the “wireless tax premium” imposed by federal, state, and local governments on cell phone users.

MTI Vice President and Director Dr. John Horrigan will be one of the speakers at this event.

For more information, including registration, click the REGISTER button to your right.

Unable to attend? Follow the discussion on Twitter using #GCBPPontheHill.
 

"...In the final week of the campaign, both Fox News and MSNBC became even more extreme in how they differed from the rest of the press in coverage of the two candidates, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism reported on Monday.

"On Fox News, the amount of negative coverage of [President] Obama increased -- from 47% in the first four weeks of October to 56% the final week. Meanwhile, positive discussion of [Mitt] Romney grew, from 34% of segments to 42%. On MSNBC, the positive coverage of Obama increased from 33% during most of October to 51% during the last week, while Romney's negative coverage increased from 57% to 68%."

The Center also said, "In the final week of the 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama enjoyed his most positive run of news coverage in months . . . Only during the week of his nominating convention was the treatment in the press more favorable."

A series of screening questions in its poll of likely voters led the venerable Gallup polling organization to underestimate the turnout of blacks and Hispanics and thus miss President Obama's impending election victory this month, David Bositis, a senior research associate and pollster at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said on Saturday.

"They ask you how interested you are in the election, if you know where your polling place is, whether you've voted there, how often you vote, whether you'll vote on election day, how sure are you to vote, and whether you voted in 2008," Bositis told Journal-isms in a follow-up email on Monday.

Read more at The Root.

Broadband Illinois will host the Illinois Broadband Research Symposium on Thursday, November 29, 2012, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The day-long event will cover research and results of Broadband Illinois' Internet usage initiatives.

MTI Director Dr. John Horrigan will speak on a panel entitled "Benchmarking Illinois Broadband" from 8:45 to 10:15 AM CT.

For more information on the Symposium and to register, click the "REGISTER" button to your right.

The Joint Center is pleased to see AT&T committing to significant new investments to improve the broadband ecosystem in the United States. The investment in building out the company's spectrum assets should help all Americans, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities that are such heavy users of Smartphones and other wireless devices. AT&T's announcement also sets off a much-needed dialogue on how the regulatory environment must evolve as telecommunications networks transition to an Internet Protocol environment. The Joint Center looks forward to working with all stakeholders to make sure this transition proceeds quickly and takes into account the needs of African Americans, Hispanics, and other people of color in the United States.

Download this press release by clicking the link below.
 

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund will hold its annual Public Policy and Media & Telecommunications Symposium on Friday, November 30, 2012, at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. Progressive Solutions in a Changing World will explore timely issues in media and technology, including prison phone rates, the digital divide, media stereotypes, and telecommunications policy.

Media and Technology Insitute Director Dr. John Horrigan will present on the Broadband panel from 10:30 AM to 12 PM.

For more information and to register, please click the REGISTER button to your right.

Although it has been in its new office location for nearly three weeks, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies continued with old business Monday afternoon with its “Broadband, the Economy, and Driving Adoption” panel discussion.

In collaboration with Comcast, the Joint Center’s event gathered a panel of broadband data experts and pragmatists to identify the factors impeding high broadband adoption rates in low adopting communities, share real-world examples of the effects of broadband in low-income and minority communities, as well as lessons learned in convincing the aforementioned communities to adopt broadband.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski delivered remarks prior to the main discussion and emphasized the increase in prevalence of broadband across the country.

Read more at Politic365.