Community Engagement

The FCC launched its far-ranging inquiry into the “Future of Media” at a crucial time: No one is untouched by the pervasive changes to the American media landscape, but plenty are still left out of the process through which those transformations arise. When the Media Policy Initiative and our partners at Free Press and Media Access Project approached our reply to the FCC’s request for comments, we tapped diverse geographic and professional expertise to tackle the Commission’s daunting 42-question prompt. Our 147 pages of answers covered a lot of ground, but in its efforts to cast a wide net for comments, the FCC also created a public online forum for less formal—or at least briefer—comments. “Tell us about your community and its media,” the FCC asked. “Do you have a newspaper? Local TV news stations? Great websites? Anything else? What works well? What works poorly? How have things changed over time? What information do you wish you could get but can’t?” Such broad questions often yield vague answers, but most of the comments posted to the Future of Media’s online forum on "Media In Your Community" are remarkably specific.

Guest post from Colin Rhinesmith, Community Media and Technology Manager for Cambridge Community Television and an Affiliate with the New America Foundation's Media Policy Initiative.

For over thirty years, people living in big cities and small towns across the United States have used Public, Educational, and Government (PEG) Access Television to inform, engage, and entertain others in their community. The Cable Act of 1984 mandated that cable operators in the 100 largest markets set aside channels, equipment, and facilities for PEG Access TV in exchange for commercial use of public rights-of-way.