The Federal Communications Commission held a nearly three hour-long public hearing at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to discuss recent findings on the needs of local coverage in journalism.

The hearing consisted of three panels of media experts that focused on different topics: broadband access, broadcasting rights and new digital media.  The topics related to the recent FCC report, “The Information Needs of Communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age.”

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Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president and director at the Media and Technology Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, addressed the needs of impoverished citizens.

“More than 40 percent of African Americans are going to smart phones but news consumption is severely limited,” Turner-Lee said.

Read more at Arizona State University's State Press.

Investigative journalism is on life support, real news is increasingly replaced with fluff and democracy is suffering because of it, a Federal Communications Commission member said Monday.

“Hundreds of newsrooms have been shuttered, thousands of reporters walk the streets in search of a job rather than walk the beat in search of a story,” Michael Copps said at a public hearing on the FCC’s report on media in the digital age.

His comments preceded three panels discussing the report’s recommendations at a session hosted by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and director of its Media and Technology Institute, said the lack of universal access to broadband is leaving behind millions in under-served groups, particularly residents of rural areas, African-Americans and those with less than a high school education.

“That’s a problem if we are migrating our media to online,” she said.

This article was previously available at MSNBC.

As part of its effort to promote the expansion of broadband services to all Americans, Time Warner Cable has pledged to carry $1 million worth of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for the Broadband Opportunity Coalition (BBOC). The PSA series emphasizes the importance of broadband Internet adoption for economic success in the 21st Century economy, particularly for struggling communities.

Time Warner Cable will carry the PSAs in English, Spanish and five other languages during a two-year period beginning in 2012.

Read more at benzinga.com.

This article was previousuly available at MarketWatch and streetinsider.com.

Philadelphia city officials estimate 41 percent of residents cannot afford computers or to pay for Internet access. But Mayor Michael Nutter plans to change that.

Philadelphia plans to set up 48 computer centers - like the one at the People’s Emergency Center - in other shelters, recreation centers and libraries.

It will also distribute more than 5,000 laptops to low-income families and create public wifi spots for free wireless Internet access. The project will bring the city closer to digital equality. That's an important goal, according to Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Media and Technology Institute for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

“What started out as a digital divide, where at that time we were dealing with public access to computers and the Internet, has turned into a movement to advance digital inclusion and digital equality," says Lee, "that allows citizens to really realize the full benefit of how this tool and platform can improve the quality of their life.”

Read more and listen to a report at Voice of America and Daily News Corner.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies invites you to a Technology Policy Forum sponsored by its Media and Technology Institute on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, on  “The New Digital Profile: Managing Privacy in an Evolving, Mobile Internet.”

The role that privacy plays in broadband adoption and social media has emerged as a key policy issue.  With more new adopters, particularly people of color, seniors and low-income populations going online, the management of their digital profiles becomes a priority.  How will current and emerging public policies protect the interests of these more vulnerable consumers? And, how can we ensure that privacy concerns will not present a barrier to broadband adoption among these groups?  Please join a panel of policy, industry and government experts to address these questions, and share pending legislation.  Lunch will be served.

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.” Highlights of the program included discussion of research institutions' usage and sharing of the data. Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee of the Joint Center's Media and Technology Institute discussed how her organization uses the data in its research.

Video of the event can be found at BroadbandBreakfast.com.

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.