Free Press's Audio

Forget about collecting trading cards for sports figures. The hot items this year are Media Heroes trading cards. And the news for newspapers has been brutal, as a sagging economy and plummeting advertising sales take their toll on news staff and content.

Online advertising firm, NebuAd, may have stepped over the line with its ad-targeting scheme that monitors Web browsing and alters computer codes. And Philadelphia has announced a deal with local investors to keep its muni wi-fi project alive after Earthlink bowed out earlier this month.

The InternetforEveryone.org Initiative was launched this week to raise public awareness about America’s digital divide and renew the call for a fast, open and affordable Internet as a basic right. And Youth Rights Media premiered their latest documentary, No Haven, in New Haven, Connecticut.

The FCC is beginning to take seriously its job to provide better information about broadband access, which will eventually affect Internet users’ ability to upload and download content faster. And Rev. Romal Tune say that “unity” is the key to success for the media reform movement.

With more than 250 presenters and 3500 attendees, the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis was a chance to learn about the issues shaping our media and to strategize for the future.

www.freepress.net/conference

Native Public Media is committed to bringing Native American voices to media policymakers in Washington. And in a guest commentary, Free Press executive director Josh Silver discusses the House vote to ban Pentagon propaganda and the mainstream media’s failure to report the story.

In an historic bipartisan vote, the Senate overwhelmingly agreed to turn back the FCC’s decision to relax longstanding media ownership rules. And the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination works within the media across all media platforms to promote fairness and equality for the GLBT community.

As editor-in-chief of a publication for African immigrants, Edwin Okong’o strives for journalistic excellence to build a bridge between cultures and dispel American stereotypes of Africa and African communities. And the FCC was in the news last week for a couple of ill-considered decisions that raised the hackles of public interest and media reform groups.

The Media Giraffe Project will be sponsoring a conference in Minneapolis in June to give local online news and community Web entrepreneurs and activists a chance to share advice about legal, organizational and advertising issues. And a House subcommittee held a hearing this week on the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.