African American media is more important than ever to address not only the many stereotypes about African Americans, but also to highlight many of the issues that impact the African American community and other communities of color.

With the decreasing numbers in media diversity, the voices disseminating the messages to the viewing and listening public are sadly causing a rise in many misperceptions that exist in society as it pertains to people of color.

From Assistant Professor Angie Chuang discussing how the media emasculates Asian and Black men in The Root to commentator John Ridley on National Public Radio (NPR) addressing the media’s negative portrayal of Blacks primarily as “thugs” despite so many positive role models, Black or African American men deserve better imaging.

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In the report, Young Men of Color in the Media: Images and Impacts by Robert M. Entman for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the negative stereotypes of African American and Hispanic men are “varied and subtle.” The report further states that, “Media stereotypes are recurring messages that associate persons of color with traits, behaviors, and values generally considered undesirable, inferior, or dangerous…. Both print and electronic journalism frequently connect the following concepts with YMC (Young Men of Color): crime, violence, hyper-sexuality, poverty (especially undeserving poverty-that is, poverty due to character flaws of the individual)-and welfare.”

Read the full story at svccwa.org.

Yesterday, the American Consumer Institute hosted an event entitled Competition in the Internet Ecosystem.  President of ACI, Steve Pociask moderated the four person panel.  Panelists included Everett Ehrlich, President of ESC Company and Former Under-Secretary of Commerce, Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President and Director of the Media and Technology Institute, Hance Haney, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and Jeff Eisenach, Managing Director and Principal at Navigant Economics.

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Nicol Turner-Lee emphasized the need for mobility as a way to reach underserved communities.  She addressed that rural communities would benefit from healthy competition.  She additionally commented on the concern over privacy for unfamiliar or new Internet users.

Read more at BroadbandMatters.org.

Jessica Rosenworcel has punched all the right tickets.

Top-ranked law school. Check.

Work at "white shoe" law firm. Check.

Senior FCC staffer. Check.

Top Senate Commerce Committee aide. Check.

Now Rosenworcel is poised for an e-ticket to the pinnacle of D.C.¹s telecom world: a commissioner¹s seat on the FCC.

Described by colleagues as whip-smart and intensely serious, she was recommended by her current boss, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), to fill the slot on the commission being vacated by Commissioner Michael Copps.

"Jessica has it all: keen intellect, vision and superb practical judgment for the art of the possible," Copps said in in 2007, when Rosenworcel left his staff to work for Rockefeller. "Their gain is my loss."

Like Rockefeller and several others who were wary of saying something that might jeopardize Rosenworcel¹s expected nomination, Copps declined to comment for this story.

One question surrounding Rosenworcel is whether she would replace Copps not just in person but in spirit: In his decade on the commission, the outspoken commissioner has emerged as a hero of consumer groups, an unabashed supporter of issues such as set neutrality and media reform.

Or would Rosenworcel tread a more centrist path in the mold of Chairman Julius Genachowski, who also boasted a sterling resume but has angered progressives with a split-the-difference approach to hot-button issues.

"I don¹t expect Jessica to become a standard-bearing speech-maker in the way Copps is," said Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge. "It¹s a
matter of personal style."

While their styles may be different, Feld said her commitment to the public interest remains the same.

"She¹s still very committed to the same goals and principles that Commissioner Copps and Sen. Rockefeller are committed to," he said.

A telecom executive predicted that Rosenworcel would "make Julius work" for her support, referring to the chairman.

Joseph Miller, deputy director of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Policy and Economic Studies, said he¹s been impressed by Rosenworcel's analytical approach to politically charged issues.

"She seems to go more on facts more so than a lot of people who are predisposed to hyperbole," he said.

During a forum last year on the controversy over reclassifying broadband as a Title II regulated service, Rosenworcel betrayed a practical streak.

The interest is "less strong in precisely which title of a statute these services fit," she was quoted by Washington Internet Daily saying, "in than whether or not we create a structure that's capable of delivering the public goods that members care about," like universal service and privacy.

At another conference in 2008, Rosenworcel remarked on the need for reform at the FCC, a cause House Republicans are taking up now.

"You have an agency that has lost sight of its mission - how do you create an agency that¹s more accountable to the American public?" Rosenworcel said. "Imagine an agency where you could look up information on available broadband plans."

"She wasn¹t a political person," said one telecommunications industry executive who worked with her at the commission. "It was more of a civil servant path than someone who just appeared because she was well-connected."

The words most often used to describe Rosenworcel - who¹s married to Mark Bailen, a media and intellectual property attorney for Baker Hostetler, and has two children - are smart, driven and no-nonsense.

"If you¹re going to have a meeting with her, you better be prepared," said an industry executive who worked with her in Congress. "She doesn¹t suffer
fools very well."

Rosenworcel, who turns 40 this month, earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and her law degree from New York University. She started her law career in 1997 as a communications associate for the law firm Drinker, Biddle.

In 1999 she landed a job as an adviser in the FCC¹s Common Carrier Bureau. Her eight years with the commission also included stints as legal counsel for the Wireline Competition Bureau and as senior adviser to Copps. She moved to Senate Commerce in 2007 as senior counsel.

If there¹s a knock on Rosenworcel, it¹s that she isn¹t known for having much of a sense of humor, something that can come in handy in a high-pressure, high-profile job like FCC commissioner.

"It¹s not that she isn¹t warm," said one telecommunications attorney. "But she kind of gets her game face on. When she¹s pushing a Jay Rockefeller bill or her agenda, she¹s not looking to laugh."

This article was previously available at Politico.

The lack of correlation between the level of concentration in local wireless service markets and prices for those services “invalidates” any efforts by government officials to demand market-by-market divestitures as they review the proposed AT&T, Inc., acquisition of T-Mobile USA, Inc., according to Jeff Eisenach, managing director and principal at Navigant Economics.

Speaking during a panel discussion of competition in the Internet ecosystem sponsored by the American Consumer Institute, Mr. Eisenach argued that the FCC, as a regulator of communications, naturally but incorrectly views networks as being at the center of the Internet ecosystem. Instead, he said, the four elements of the “platform” - content, network, device, and applications - “are perfect complements,” with none occupying the center of the ecosystem.

In considering competition in the wireless network in its recent report on that subject (TRDaily, June 27), the FCC views devices as using the network, but “don’t mobile wireless services use devices, too?” Mr. Eisenach said.

Like Mr. Eisenach, two other panelists at today’s event, Hance Haney, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, and Everett Ehrlich, former under secretary of commerce during the Clinton administration and current president of ESC Co., criticized the FCC report’s failure to find that the U.S. wireless services market is competitive.

Mr. Ehrlich said, “The iPhone competes with the networks that carry it, because ultimately you’re buying a combined experience” of service, device, and applications.

Mr. Haney suggested that it is unreasonable for the FCC, which could not achieve 100% penetration of wireline voice service after more than 70 years of regulation, to expect universal penetration by the wireless industry in far less time.

In response to a question about FCC interest in broadband adoption, Mr. Eisenach said, “I don’t see the basis for concluding that someone who makes the choice not to adopt broadband is somehow harming society.”

The fourth panelists, Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and director of its Media Technology Institute, argued that there are public policy goals - such as ensuring everyone has access to employment opportunities, health care, and education when information and application processes move online - that justify government interest in increasing broadband adoption, as well as deployment.

This article was previously available at Telecommunications Reports.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Program Director, Anne Neville, offered the keynote address Tuesday morning at the Broadband Breakfast Club’s June event, "The National Broadband Map: Policy, Consumer and Economic Development Implications.”

Neville, who oversees the development of the National Broadband Map, kicked off the event with an overview of the program, including how the NTIA obtained data, how the data have been used, and the future of the mapping efforts.

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Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President and Director of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, explained how her organization, which focuses on issues pertaining to African Americans and other people of color, used the data to help its research.  While the National Broadband Map was helpful to the think tank, she said, refinement of the data could push research even further.

Read more at BroadbandBreakfast.com.

The National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL-Women) will convene its 2011 Annual National Legislative Conference June 23-26, 2011, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center Hotel.

Nationally known guest speakers invited to this comprehensive three day-event include Gwen Ifill, moderator of Washington Week; Alabama Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell; Valarie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama; and others.

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee of the Joint Center's Media and Technology Institute is scheduled to moderate a conference panel entitled Boosting the Economic Recovery through Broadband Internet Expansion on Friday, June 24th.

For more information, visit the NOBEL-Women website.

The Cable Show, hosted by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) from June 14 to June 16, 2011, is your three-day immersion into everything cable can do. The Cable Show brings together the full spectrum of the global cable industry, fostering fresh dialogues with leaders of the entertainment and high-tech sectors to encourage collaboration and business relationships. The Cable Show serves as an important forum for news announcements, product introductions and the unveiling of strategic decisions that will shape the industry agenda in the coming years.

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee will be participating in a panel discussion entitled Ideas in Action: Partnerships That Drive Broadband Adoption in America on Wednesday, June 15, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

For registration and event information, visit the Cable Show website.

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies held a panel on Wednesday on how the federal government should promote broadband adoption and access to underserved communities.  The panel served as an update the National Broadband Plan, which came out one year ago.

“The biggest mistake we made when working on the plan was using the current framework to solve tomorrow’s problems” said keynote speaker, Blair Levin, one of the authors of the National Broadband Plan. “We need to phase out the Lifeline and Link-Up programs and come up with something new.”

Read more at BroadbandBreakfast.com.

As the one-year anniversary of the National Broadband Plan looms near, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (Joint Center) hosted a forum on March 2 entitled, The National Broadband Plan and the Underserved – One Year Later.

A program of the Joint Center’s Media and Technology Institute (MTI), this event was geared toward discerning progress in implementing the Plan.  Specifically, participants were asked to reflect on the impact that the Plan has had on connecting members of underserved communities to broadband opportunities. Underserved, in this instance, was a catch-all category looking to address the needs of low-income, disabled, rural, elderly, native American and non-English speaking populations.  Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President of the Joint Center and Director of MIT, also challenged participants to ‘think outside the box’ so that “we’re not having the same discussions about the Plan a year from now.”

Read more at Politic365.

Nearly a year after the issuance of the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the plan's lead architect told a policy gathering on Wednesday that the Federal Communications Commission did not take the right approach to increasing broadband adoption among low-income households, and that it should be changed.

Blair Levin, who was Executive Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the FCC during the NBP's formulation and now serves as Society Fellow at the Aspen Institute, said that the plan should not have counted on transitioning the Universal Service Fund (USF) as its core strategy for expanding broadband access in for poor and rural households in underserved areas.  The USF currently provides subsidies to support basic monthly telephone service and initial installation or activation fees through the Lifeline/Link-up programs.

Read more at PR Newswire.