UNC media law center workshop examined FCC report, recommend policies to increase watchdog journalism
The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy convened media scholars, professionals, attorneys and community leaders for a Jan. 20 workshop that examined how Internet, cable and satellite television, and mobile broadband service providers could help promote local accountability journalism in North Carolina and the nation.
Download .mp3 files of all workshop sessions.
Or listen to individual sessions:
Welcome and Introduction
Susan King, Dean, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
UNC Center for Media Law and Policy co-directors:
Cathy Packer, professor, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
David Ardia, assistant professor, UNC School of Law
Q&A with James Hamilton and Steven Waldman
James Hamilton, Charles S. Sydnor Professor, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Steven Waldman, former journalist, entrepreneur, bureaucrat and senior adviser to chairman of the FCC
Panel 1: Gaps and opportunities in accountability journalism
Led by:
Penny Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
Ferrel Guillory, professor of the practice, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
Panelists:
Fiona Morgan, associate in research, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University
Sarah Cohen, Knight Professor of the Practice, Duke University
Alan Mason, vice president and general manager, News 14
Rick Thames, editor, Charlotte Observer
Panel 2: How Internet, cable, satellite and mobile broadband providers can support local accountability journalism
Led by:
David Ardia
Panelists:
Michelle Connolly, associate professor, economics department, Duke University
Mark Prak, partner, Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard
Blair Levin, communications and society fellow, Aspen Institute
Lunch presentation
Tom Stites, founder and president, Banyan Project
Roundtable discussion of policy proposals
Led by:
Michael Gerhardt, Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, UNC School of Law
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is underwriting the effort with a $20,000 grant to the media law center, a partnership between the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and the UNC School of Law.
The workshop comes in response to the 2011 Federal Communications Commission "Information Needs of Communities" report that identified the loss of newsroom positions in recent years as a threat to the quality of civic information available in communities around the nation. Steve Waldman, who authored the FCC report, participated in the workshop.
The report documents the effects of the digital revolution on local, professional, accountability reporting. One effect has been the loss of 13,400 newspaper newsroom positions in four years. The report argues that the loss of those workers is likely to result in government waste, more local corruption, less effective schools and other serious community problems. The Jan. 20 workshop searched for ways to increase the amount of accountability journalism being done in local communities.
"The FCC’s study will be either a catalyst for improving the flow of news and information in communities, or a book that sits on a shelf," said Eric Newton, Knight Foundation's senior adviser to the president. "We hope America's journalism schools will lead the debate on the reports recommendations and the news community will make its views known. That's a good first step in the right direction."
Roundtable discussions at the workshop identified the gaps in accountability journalism in North Carolina, the causes of the gaps and the opportunities they present. Representatives of Internet, cable television, satellite television and mobile broadband service providers and others discussed whether and how service providers could help to fill those gaps.
The workshop was one of 11 being conducted at leading universities, in an effort to take action on the FCC’s report, the most comprehensive look at media policy in a generation. Knight Foundation and Carnegie Corp. of New York are dedicating more than $800,000 to help implement the report’s recommendations, including projects to examine how tax law is affecting nonprofit media, to create a plan for state-specifc C-SPANs and to develop reliable metrics on media philanthropy.
A final report generated from the UNC workshop will be incorporated into a set of recommendations to be issued jointly by the deans of top journalism programs participating in the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.