Watch the video of the DC Launch of Black Voices for Internet Freedom.

Get more information at blacknetfreedom.org

Public-access television has always had a low-budget, amateur reputation. Yet Rod Laughridge's alternative news program "Newsroom on Access SF" was anything but that. Though San Francisco's public-access station had its share of offbeat shows —- like the risqué DeeDeeTV, hosted by self-described "pop culture diva" Dee Dee Russell — "Newsroom" took itself seriously. Its mission, as described on its website, was to "bring community-based, community reported and produced independent news and interviews from a grassroots viewpoint — unhindered, uncensored and unaltered." 

 The show, which ran for five years on Channel 29, followed a professional news format with high production values. Anchors reported headlines from behind a studio desk as video streams played in the background. Local news segments on topics like the plight of renters and live reports from homeless shelters were interspersed with commentary by the likes of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Angela Davis, and international news from Al-Jazeera. During its run, "Newsroom" was nominated for an Emmy and won several Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE) awards. "It was a full-blown news show," Laughridge recalls.

Unfortunately, "Newsroom" became a casualty of a ripple effect brought on by the passage of a bill that slashed the public-access operating budget across California. This resulted in a new provider, the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), which had no prior experience operating public TV, taking over SF's two public-access channels. BAVC closed the production studio where "Newsroom" and other shows were produced and instituted a different model that did away with the traditional three-camera set-up. Laughridge notes that, in the old days, staff members assisted public-access producers with editing. Now "you have to pay for [BAVC's] classes to do that. There's a conflict right there," he says. These changes to the public-access model effectively "killed the idea of community" in community television, Laughridge says.

The loss of an award-winning program like "Newsroom," which provided a viable, community-based alternative to network TV news, symbolizes one of the clearest examples of what has transpired as a result of the public-access crisis. As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) noted in its 2011 media review, "State and local changes have reduced the funding and, in some cases, the prominence on the cable dial of public, educational and government channels (PEG) at a time when the need for local programming is especially urgent."

The Perils of PEG Centers

The public-access crisis in California was brought about by the 2006 passage of the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act (DIVCA), a bill that was heavily lobbied for by Comcast and AT&T. According to the telecommunications industry, DIVCA was supposed to create jobs, increase competition and serve the public interest. Its actual effect was the exact opposite — cable companies eliminated jobs and ultimately faced less competition from the defunding of community television stations. As of 2009, similar bills had been passed in 25 states, with similar results.

Since the mid-2000s, more than 100 PEG stations across the country have disappeared; cities like San Francisco and Seattle have cut as much as 85 percent of the PEG operations budget. City funding for public access has been entirely eliminated in Denver and Dallas; at least 45 such stations have closed in California since 2006-12 in Los Angeles, the nation's No. 3 media market, alone. As many as 400 PEG stations in Wisconsin, Florida, Missouri, Iowa, Georgia and Ohio are facing extinction as well.

Moreover, according to a 2010 study by the Benton Foundation, these cuts have disproportionately affected minority communities. Adding insult to injury, AT&T and other cable providers have employed what's known as "channel-slamming": listing all public-access channels on a single channel or making them accessible only in submenus, which makes finding them difficult for viewers.

A bill currently before the House of Representatives called the Community Access Preservation, or CAP, Act, could prevent hundreds of funding-challenged PEG stations nationwide from going belly up. The bill limits channel-slamming and would amend an FCC ruling that PEG support may be used only for facilities and equipment, and not for operating expenses. Even if the CAP Act passes, it "won't solve all of public-access TV's problems," says Media Alliance executive director Tracy Rosenberg. For one thing, the CAP Act falls short of mandating a higher percentage of cable franchise fees — an estimated $10 million to $12 million in SF — for PEG operators. Increasing this revenue, however, could allow PEG stations not only to survive, but to thrive.

An Open-Source Solution?

One possible solution for financially challenged PEG stations is the development of open-source or user-modifiable software — a model currently being developed in Denver, San Francisco and several other cities. In just its second year of operating SF Commons — SF's public-access station — BAVC is already attracting wider attention. In June 2011, the organization was singled out for praise by the FCC, which called SF Commons one of the "most promising templates for the future of public-access centers."

Open source offers built-in internet connectivity and is less financially constraining than the old public-access model, requiring less equipment and less staff. Instead of reels of videotape or DVDs, programs are saved as MPEG files. Editing workstations aren't bulky analog machines but svelte Macintosh computers equipped with Final Cut Pro editing software.

Yet open source isn't a perfect solution. In the short-term, moving to an open-source model for public access may actually widen the gap affecting underserved and less technologically literate demographics. "Seniors, disabled, low-income adults," Rosenberg charges, "[are] being left off the train."

Adapting open source to a public-access medium also limits the potential of users to acquire skills needed for some television jobs and puts more emphasis on offsite production, which in turn reduces the level of interaction between programmers. "They want you to edit at home," Laughridge says. "There's the digital divide right there: Not everyone has a computer or camera."

Virtual Community vs. Actual Community

Laughridge is one of several veteran public-access programmers who complain about displacement under BAVC.

Ellison Horne, a former president of The San Francisco Community Television Corporation (SFCTC)'s board of directors, says BAVC made an "aggressive move toward a virtual studio as opposed to what we had before, which was a community media center." This resulted, he says, in a lack of community engagement.

Since BAVC's takeover of Channel 29, "a very different culture has emerged" in San Francisco public access, says documentary filmmaker Kevin Epps, who began his career in public access. That culture is more conservative, tech-savvy, youth-oriented and, in Horne's words, "elitist."

Steve Zeltzer, a labor activist and public-access producer, charges the BAVC takeover has resulted in "the privatization of public access."

Ken Johnson, who worked for a stint as a producer-director at local station KQED after getting his start on Channel 29, credits public-access TV with helping him stay off the streets and out of jail. Johnson says he often rounded up street people as volunteers to help him produce his show on veterans' issues. But volunteers are no longer welcome under BAVC's operatorship.

Instead of a community-supportive environment, Johnson says, "They have this robotic thing when you do it like that, you lose something."

BAVC staff are quick to characterize the problems with public-access programmers as simply a case of the old guard being resistant to change. "You had a lot of producers used to doing the same routine for X amount of years," says Andy Kawanami, SF Commons' community manager. He concedes the transition to open source wasn't completely smooth, but says things "have settled down quite a bit" since.

Former BAVC executive director Ken Ikeda has been quoted as saying, "We've learned the hard way what innovation in isolation can cost an organization." And Jen Gilomen, BAVC's director of public Media Strategies, admits "we've lost some people" in the transition. However, she says, the economic reality means "the whole model had to change."

Making Open Source Work for Everybody

A considerable learning curve is involved in adapting open source to public-access television, says Tony Shawcross, Executive Director of Denver Open Media (DOM). After taking over Denver's PEG channel in 2005, DOM underwent a period of trial-and-error, discovering what worked and what didn't. In 2008, DOM received a $400,000 Knight Foundation grant which allowed it to revise its model to make it more community- and user-friendly.

"We had to go through that process in order to learn what it took to make the tools work for others," he says. Overall, Shawcross says DOM isn't reaching as wide a constituency as its predecessor, but, he adds, "You can't just talk about diversity and our model without also talking about money. Dollar-for-dollar, I'd say DOM is doing better in reaching disadvantaged communities, but we'd be doing much better if we had $500,000 annually to invest in serving the communities who are most in need."

BAVC, Shawcross says, is "one of the few success stories in public access." However, he says, BAVC "are very focused on their own needs, and the development work they're doing in open source is not focused on benefitting the rest of the community as much as it would if that were a true priority for them."

BAVC is "one of the few success stories in public access," Shawcross says, but it's "very focused on their own needs, and the development work they're doing in open source is not focused on benefiting the rest of the community as much as it would if that were a true priority for them."

Currently, BAVC has no initiatives "specific to diversity," says Gilomen. Yet BAVC has made forays into community outreach via the Neighborhood News Network (n3), three partnership pilot programs with nonprofit centers utilizing these centers' media production facilities. Ultimately, the FCC notes, n3 "will link PEG channels to 15 community sites throughout the city, using an existing fiber network." After airing on SF Commons, these programs will be accessible to viewers as one of BAVC's online channels.

Although they've made for good PR copy on BAVC's website, the three n3 programs have thus far resulted in a total of just 77 minutes of actual on-air programming. "We need more money to expand these programs," Gilomen says, which she hopes "will seed news bureaus."

With a single-camera studio set-up, n3's no-frills production values lag behind the standard set by "Newsroom." At times, the content resembles infomercials for BAVC's community partner organizations. In the Mission District's n3 pilot episode, anchor Naya Buric, a BAVC intern, repeatedly stumbles over her words, at one point misidentifying n3 as "neighborhood network news." When asked what difference n3 will make to the community, guest Jean Morris touts the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts' programming, yet fails to mention any issues of substance affecting the neighborhood, such as gentrification and gang violence. The Bayview-Hunters Point pilot show, meanwhile, features members of the Boys and Girls Club, aged 9-12, covering the club's own Junior Giants program. The South of Market pilot fares a little better, with segments on redevelopment, a fire at a single-room occupancy hotel and the availability of bathrooms for SF's homeless population. It remains to be seen whether n3 programs can fill the role "Newsroom" used to play, much less consistently cover topics of serious concern to neighborhood residents. Willie Ratcliffe, publisher of independent African-American newspaper SF BayView, recognizes the n3 program in Bayview-Hunters Point as a positive development for a handful of young people. However, he says, "I don't see where it's gonna do too much" to address the "burning issue [of] economic survival," nor the police brutality, health issues and environmental concerns Bayview residents face daily. In his view, the smiling African-American faces pictured on BAVC's website are "just being used, really," he says.

The Hope of Digital Integration

Two years after launching SF Commons, the station is still very much a work in progress. The lack of a consistent program schedule, some producers say, makes it difficult to build a regular audience. But Gilomen says this concern will be addressed in the coming months as BAVC rolls out a new set of web-based tools allowing producers to self-schedule their programs and archive content online. Besides eliminating the need for physical DVDs, this makes it possible for public-access stations in other markets to air SF Commons' content.

However, the true test of BAVC's public-access stewardship is yet to come. SF Commons features prominently in a SF Department of Technology (SFDOT) broadband inclusion initiative, which, if successful, could form the 21st century model for public access in America.

In addition to the operating budget of $170,000 for two PEG channels from SFDOT, BAVC is also the recipient of $2 million in technology grants specifically tied to broadband initiatives aimed at increasing digital literacy. But while the potential for using digitally integrated public-access and broadband services to close the digital divide exists on paper, these services haven't been implemented in a concrete, tangible way — with measurable results — yet.

SFDOT policy analyst Brian Roberts uses buzzwords like "digital inclusion" and "affordable access" in describing the city's B-TOP program, which envisions the creation of a "public broadband space" (PBS) incorporating public access as one of its components. The idea of a PBS is "having access to training and technology people couldn't afford in their homes," Roberts explains. But, he says, "we're not sure where that's going to go."

The B-TOP program relies on federal grants and matching funds for its S10 million budget. So far it's created a handful of new bureaucratic positions, doled out tens of thousands of dollars to BAVC for equipment purchases, started a digital media skills training course at City College of San Francisco and held several community outreach events. Yet it's had little to no impact on improving access in SF's most technologically underserved neighborhoods, which is what it's supposed to do. According to SFDOT's most recent report on sustainable broadband adoption, the program is only 1 percent complete at this time. SFDOT has failed to meet its baseline goals for new subscribers receiving discounted broadband service; currently there are "zero" households and "zero" businesses participating, which it blames on "implementation delays."

In other words, despite the FCC's flowery praise for BAVC and SFDOT's collaborative efforts, the vision of a fiber-optic network broadcasting hyperlocalized content over public-access airwaves isn't crystal clear.

An Upside Down Model?

While SFDOT and BAVC wait for the sustainable broadband initiative to take shape,  a cadre of veteran video producers are attempting to fashion their own template for public access's immediate future.

Instead of relying on technology grants based around not-quite-there-yet initiatives, this model would pool the existing resources of several cities in Contra Costa County, each of whom receive PEG funding from cable operators, to create a countywide community media center. Instead of just under $200,000 in operating expenses, the center's budget could be closer to $2 million, enough to run a top-notch PEG center with high-quality production values. This center would be run not by outside operators, but by the producers themselves, fulfilling one of the FCC's recommendations for high-performing PEGS: "the ceding of editorial control to producers."

Could a super-PEG center serving the needs of an entire county, rather than an aggregation of smaller PEGS tied to specific cities, be a way to ensure the future of public access while preserving its vibrant culture?

Sam Gold, the man behind the effort, thinks so. He's assembled a team consisting of several former SF public-access producers and is actively pursuing getting the necessary approval from various city councils. He calls the effort "an upside down model," since he's invested $40,000 of his own money into equipment. In his mind, they key question is to whether the center can be established on public space, which would alleviate the biggest operating cost, that of renting a facility. If successful, Gold's model could be replicated in other markets, offering a third option to the public-access crisis besides ceasing operations or acquiescing to the imperfections of open source. "Wonder if we can get the old 'Newsroom' crew back together?" Gold ponders during a lunch with Laughridge and several other public-access veterans. Laughridge just looks at him and smiles.

You often get what you pay for. At&T, Verizon and Comcast certainly did. Take a look at these lobbying expenses totals. 

Telecom Lobbying Expenses

2009

Verizon Communications

$17,680,000.00

AT&T

$14,729,673.00

Comcast Corporation

$12,590,000.00

2010

Verizon Communications

$16,750,000.00

AT&T

$15,395,078.00

Comcast Corporation

$12,937,000.00

In another moment of disconnect between community media and the public media machine, WDAV announced they would begin independently syndicating "World of Opera" with host Lisa Simeone. 

National Public Radio dropped the program due to Simeone's involvement with the Occupy DC protest. 

Brett Zongker provides a good summary of events on the Huffington Post.

******

WASHINGTON -- NPR will no longer distribute the member station-produced program "World of Opera" to about 60 stations across the country because the show host helped organize an ongoing Washington protest, a network official said Friday evening.

Instead, North Carolina-based classical music station WDAV, which produces the show, said it will distribute the nationally syndicated program on its own beginning Nov. 11. The station said it plans to keep Lisa Simeone as host and has said her involvement in a political protest does not affect her job as a music program host.

NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said the network disagrees with the station on the role of program hosts but respects its position.

"Our view is it's a potential conflict of interest for any journalist or any individual who plays a public role on behalf of NPR to take an active part in a political movement or advocacy campaign," she told The Associated Press. "Doing so has the potential to compromise our reputation as an organization that strives to be impartial and unbiased."

Rehm said any host with NPR attached to their title is a public figure representing the network as a whole. But she said "reasonable people can have different views about this." She said the negotiations with WDAV were civil and amicable.

NPR's ethics code states that "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies" involving issues NPR covers. The code notes that some provisions may not apply to outside contributors. It uses a freelancer who primarily contributes arts coverage as an example.

Rehm said the network didn't need to cite the code in its decision to drop the show because its position on hosts' political activities was "even more fundamental."

Simeone, who lives in Baltimore, is a freelancer who has worked in radio and television for 25 years. She has hosted music shows and documentaries. She was fired Wednesday as the host of a radio documentary program, "Soundprint," because she helped organize an anti-war demonstration that also protested Wall Street and what participants call corporate greed.

"Soundprint" is heard on about 35 NPR affiliates and is produced by Maryland-based Soundprint Media Center Inc. Its president said the company had adopted NPR's code of ethics as its own.

"World of Opera" is the only radio show in the nation devoted to broadcasting full-length operas from around the world, according to WDAV.

The Davidson, N.C.-based station will use the same distribution process as NPR and hopes to retain all the stations that have aired the program, spokeswoman Lisa Gray said. The network is assisting with the change in distribution, and it won't affect the listener's experience.

"We think it's really important to classical music that we continue to produce the show and make it available," Gray told the AP. "That's our primary concern, that we continue to be able to provide this programming to listeners and stations across the country."

WDAV had previously said it has a different mission than NPR and seeks to provide arts and cultural programming nationally and internationally, rather than news.

NPR had previously produced and distributed "World of Opera" in house until January 2010 when production was shifted to WDAV. The show has been in production for more than 20 years. It has featured performances from U.S. opera companies including Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass and New York City Opera, as well as operas from Paris, Vienna and elsewhere.

This video from keepusconnected.org explains and clearly demonstrates AT&T's failure to deliver basic functionality for public, educational and government (PEG) access channels on its U-Verse system. A  petition challenging the discriminatory treatment is pending at the FCC. 

This podcast is a compilation of stories on phones and prisons culled from the Main Street Project (partners in the Media Justice Grassroots Network) at a Phone Justice Policy Day event in Minneapolis. 

(*Note* - Ozcat Radio is one of the community stations assisted in getting on the air by our friends at Common Frequency (www.commonfrequency.org)

The founder of Vallejo Ozcat, the community-based FM radio station, made a disturbing discovery Saturday morning -- racist epithets scrawled on his son's vehicle and the business' mailbox and doorway.

The graffiti involved liberal use of the "N" word, and included "N---- radio station" written on a Suburban and "No N----" across the mailbox slot in the 1100 block of Georgia Street. A sign written on the back of a flier and stuck near the door contained another epithet.

The tagging occurred between 3 and 7 a.m. Saturday, said David Martin, who is African-American.

"This saddens my heart. We are not a black or white radio station, but a community radio station," Martin said. "I'm shocked."

An Ozcat radio board member said an emergency board meeting would take place today to discuss the incident and what should be done. The station will not be intimidated, said the board member, who gave only her DJ name -- Golden Lady.

DJ Damon Williams said the tagging was probably done by someone with no knowledge of the radio station's mission or the people behind it.

Martin said the station had not been targeted by racist taggers before and he has no idea who is behind them.

The tagging, Martin stressed, would not discourage him from the radio station's mission of presenting a full range of musical styles and celebrating the community's diversity. "This gives me the strength to push on," he said.

The station plays a diverse array of musical types and styles representing many cultures and styles. The station also gives local musicians and art groups a venue.

The Vallejo Police Department received a report on the Ozcat radio graffiti and would be looking into it, Lt. Lee Horton said.

"Obviously, we'll do whatever we can to catch them," Horton said. "We'll do our best."

Horton added that other parts of Vallejo were hit with graffiti Friday night.

Formerly broadcast only on the Internet, Ozcat was granted full programming rights by the FCC and secured the call letters KZCT and a place on the dial at 89.5.

2010 strife at listener-sponsored KPFA Radio in Berkeley is dying down after the National Labor Relations Board dismissed 3 complaints and former host Aimee Allison lost an arbitration hearing on the voluntary and involuntary layoffs last fall. KPFA has improved its financial position by over $350,000, reduced its operating deficit by 85% and has increased listener support donations by 3.5% since October of 2010. 

The advice memo issued by the National Labor Relations Board in April of 2011 can be referenced below.  Two additional complaints were similarly withdrawn after facing dismissal.

Arbitration hearings for former host Aimee Allison ended with the layoff for financial exigency upheld by the CWA arbitrator.

KPFA, which was perched on an abyss, after two consecutive years of more than $550,000 losses in addition to the 14-month disappearance of a $375,000 donation check received in October of 2008 and not recovered until December of 2009, has made a substantial financial rebound in 2011. Listener donations increased by 3.5%, overall revenue by 1.4% and  operating deficits reduced by 85% in only 10 months.

AT&T complained that a panel of independent academics in the PUC's merger impact hearing threatened to "taint" the proceeding with their uninformed opinions. 

The panel opened the first of 3 public workshops throughout the state in the month of July where panelists will discuss various aspects of the proposed merger of AT&T with T-Mobile. 

The workshop on Friday July 8th began with the panel on economic impact, which featured Santa Clara University School of Law professor Allen Hammond, Stanford professors Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School, Roger Noll, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University, and George Ford of Washington's Phoenix Center for Economic Policy.

The day followed with 4 industry panels discussing back-haul service agreements, data roaming services and spectrum availability. All 3industry panels featured one representative each from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Cricket.

Michelle Quinn reported in Politico on the letter sent by AT&T to presiding judge Jessica Hecht and PUC commissioner Catherine Sandoval, and the letter is available here.

For a transcript and video archive of the July 8th workshops, including the panel AT&T tried to kill, go here.  MA's brief comment can be found on pages 221-223 of the transcript.

Political reporter Rollin Post, whose career spanned both mainstream and public broadcasting, passed on October 3rd at the age of 82. 

Information regarding memorial services can be found here. 

Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs passes at 56 of pancreatic cancer, leaving a legacy of digital innovation and a rapidly-changing information society. 

Macbooks, i-phones, i-pods and i-pods have changed lives, transforming the simple tasks of writing, making a phone call and listening to a song in ways that could not have been predicted.

As with all change, gaps have sprung up between the so-called "early adopters" of innovative technology and those who lag far behind, reinforcing the divides that strafe society across socio-economic differences.

And many things, including journalism, cafe communities and the long-lost art of letter writing will never be the same.

We won't add any more to the outpouring on the web. There is more than any person could possibly read. But while paying tribute, lets not forget to keep having honest conversations about the impact of the digital society, including issues of equity, loss of privacy, and effects on on localism, news reporting and in-person community-building.

This video records the opening moments of the Fruitvale march that marked the release of Oscar Grant's killer Johannes Mehserle from prison. 

*Note - Two weeks later, the public did attend the next meeting and the PUC voted 3-2 to proceed with an extensive investigation of the impacts of the merger of Californians. 

****

I was out-gunned 30-1.

On May 26th, I went to the California Public Utilities Commission to encourage them to perform a thorough investigation of the impact of the AT&T / T-Mobile merger on California consumers.

As a public interest advocate, I’m used to being the underdog. Despite sending lots of last-minute emails asking people to come, I didn’t expect a huge amount of folks would be able to dispense with work and family and rush over to the commission meeting.

But I didn’t expect it to be this bad.

Speaker after speaker encouraged the commission not to delay the merger, which would magically deliver 4G everywhere, end all dropped calls, deliver high-speed broadband nationwide, and help bring the US economy out of recession.

There didn’t seem to be much this merger wouldn’t fix.

Somewhat to my shock, several people I recognized as leaders of organizations that serve lower-income populations, had come to make comments encouraging automatic approval of the merger with no investigation.

Then came my one minute to provide an alternative point of view.

* I said that duopolies rarely result in lower prices for consumers.

* I mentioned the December 2010 Consumer Reports study ranking AT&T as the lowest-ranked wireless carrier in customer satisfaction

* I asked them to substantiate the miraculous claims of merger proponents, or at least to provide some evidence for them.

Afterwards I spoke to a few people. One of them was a young woman representing a chamber of commerce in Fresno. I asked her if she really thought the merger would bring such amazing benefits to the local small businesses she represents.

She answered that she liked what I had to say about the merger.

The upshot of the day’s hearing was a 5-0 vote to open an investigative proceeding and not automatically approve the merger.

As I sat waiting for the result, only a few feet away from the president of AT&T California, Ken McNeeley, I had some time to think about what I had just participated in.

* My DC friends tell me the ratio of telecom lobbying efforts compared to public interest lobbying efforts is  661-1.

* AT&T spent 15 million dollars lobbying in 2010. That is 60x the annual budget of my organization (when it’s doing well).

* Small businesses, which often suffer as much from non-competitive markets as low-income consumers do, are represented by those who say that what is good for AT&T is good for everybody. Is it really?

I came out of the May 26th hearing with the result I hoped for.

The Public Utilities Commission agreed they owed it to the people of California to engage in an informational proceeding on the merger’s impact.

On this day, the odds were overcome.

But the public needs more than a minute at a dais. And David needs a fighting chance to debate AT&T’s Goliath on a fair platform that doesn’t put community organizations between a rock and hard place.

There is more to come. On June 9th, the commission will discuss the scope of the proceeding and no doubt, there will be battles to make it larger or smaller.

I really hope for better odds than 30-1.

****

For more on the AT&T merger and astroturf lobbying, see this article by Nicole Duran in The Deal magazine: "Divide, Buy and Conquer".

Hyperlocal online news startup, Bay Citizen, will have a 14-person bargaining unit for editorial workers with the Pacific Media Workers Guild after the union won a card check election 7-5-2.

The Labor Relations Board certified the election on July 12th and contract negotiations will begin soon. 

The Bay Citizen has a local work force of 30 people. The new bargaining unit will cover 14 editorial employees, less than 50% of the total employee count.

Bay Citizen president and CEO Lisa Frazier is reported to earn a salary of $400,000 per year. Annual reader memberships cost $50-$149 per year and the site includes PG&E, Wells Fargo Bank, Visa, Yahoo, New Republic Bank and Canon in a list of corporate sponsors.

The Guild issued this press release on July 20th:

 ***

The Bay Citizen Becomes First Start-Up News Website to Unionize

New model in journalism leads way in workplace democracy

San Francisco, July 20, 2011 – Journalists at the nonprofit news website The Bay Citizen have voted to affiliate with the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America.

“We believe The Bay Citizen, as one of the pioneering exponents of new civic journalism, should also be a leading example in the area of workplace democracy,” The Bay Citizen’s editorial staff wrote in a letter to TBC President and CEO Lisa Frazier ahead of filing cards with the National Labor Relations Board.

The majority of the organization's editorial staff signed union cards seeking to be represented by the Guild on May 26th, the one-year anniversary of The Bay Citizen's launch. Voting was conducted June 27 at The Bay Citizen's San Francisco headquarters and by mail-in ballot. NLRB officials counted the votes on Tuesday, July 12.

Two votes out of the 14 cast are being challenged. The remaining ballot count resulted in a 7-5 win to form the union. The two challenged votes have not been opened, however the Guild is certain that whether these two voters are included in the unit or not, the concluding tally will remain in favor of forming a unit. The Guild is asking the NLRB to count all votes cast.

Bernie Lunzer, international president of The Newspaper Guild in Washington, D.C., said the result marks an historic advance for media workers, as traditional newsrooms shrink and the industry struggles to find new models to stay competitive in the online era.

“The future of quality journalism depends on reporters and editors shaping the vision of innovative new media organizations. By voting to be represented by the Guild, employees at The Bay Citizen have given themselves this voice," Lunzer said.

Support came from unionized journalists at The New York Times and KGO radio, which have agreements to obtain local news content from The Bay Citizen.

“For more than a year, journalists from The Bay Citizen have provided important coverage for the pages and website of The New York Times, and these talented journalists are an asset to the Guild at an important time, ” wrote Grant Glickson, New York Times Staff Assistant and Unit Chairperson.

Bay Citizen staff members are committed to the success of the organization and expect their new Guild unit to work in partnership with management to create a contract appropriate for their nonprofit startup.

The Bay Citizen was founded in 2010 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to fact-based, independent reporting on civic and community issues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its newsroom of award-winning journalists covers Bay Area civic and cultural news topics that are under-reported today. TBC also partners widely with independent media organizations and produces the Bay Area pages of the The New York Times.

The Bay Citizen unit joins one of the premier affiliates of TNG-CWA. Formed after a series of recent mergers, the San Francisco-based Pacific Media Workers Guild (known as the California Media Workers Guild until a name change in January) represents about 2,000 news workers, freelancers, court interpreters and union staffs throughout California and Hawaii. News units include the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Bay Area News Group-East Bay, Bay City News Service, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii Herald-Tribune and Maui News. The Guild also includes the California Federation of Interpreters, print shops and union staffs at AFSCME Local 3299, the ILWU and California Labor Federation.

###

This is me, at the edge of town. We've got most things you need in Stamping Ground — or at least near here. Except for real broadband.

It’s a wonder anyone in the rural U.S. bothers to have an Internet connection – certainly anyone living more than 10 minutes from a town of any reasonable size.

Not only are the available options painfully slow – though the satellite ISPs tout their wares with phrases such as “blisteringly fast” – they are expensive and the “service providers” (their words, not mine) do everything in their power to keep you in their talons once they have you signed up.

For $50 a month I have only once reached a download speed of more than 260 kbs. Their explanation? It’s because I’m bundled with an evil TV service provider that restricts the amount of bandwidth it allocates to me. However, if I were to sign a new stand-alone contract with the ISP and pay for a new installation of the latest equipment and a more-expensive plan, then my service would miraculously improve.

Or so they tell me. It must be a joke, right? Why would any company allow another to tarnish its name by downgrading its service — all the while working in partnership with it?

The providers of cable, satellite and landline services have apparently borrowed a leaf from the same manual used by the companies that own the cargo ships. That’s the page where it tells you how to divide your world – in this case the U.S. – into spheres of influence but still maintain the illusion of competition. It’s horrifying.

Appalled by the obstructionist attitudes I encountered as I tried to work through my problems, and the possible damage to his reputation, the small businessman who’d installed my new TV service organized a three-way phone hook-up with my ISP (Company A) to see if we could find a solution. Could I keep my old account and equipment while they sent out an installer with the new gear? No, I’d have to sign a new contract. Well I might as well cancel all together. 

My place, the house broadband forgot. The ISP rep, all helpful and condescending – why do these people all assume you’re not as smart as they? – said something like, “Don’t do that, sir; I appreciate your problem and I’ll switch you through to someone who may be able to help.” 

In a flash we found ourselves talking to a sales rep with another company, one that advertises itself as Company A’s chief and fiercest competitor. I kid you not and I’ll swear to it in court if it comes to that. In response to our incredulous question, Company B’s salesman said: “We are a sister company, sir.”

How did things get to this state and why is the U.S. so far behind in communications technology (29th in the world and slipping) – especially in what is available to people who live outside city limits? It’s not that the country around Stamping Ground, Kentucky, is sparsely populated. Nor is there any resistance to the idea of affordable access to truly high-speed Internet for all Americans, regardless of where they live. (Note to ISPs: 1Mbs is not high speed. That is considered slow everywhere except in your advertising. South Korea is already testing a 1Gbs network that will be up and running next year.)

Nor does U.S. Internet service come all that cheap. Daily Infographic this year published a statistical map* crediting the U.S. with an average speed of 4.8Mbs at an average cost of $3.33 per Megabit; Japan is shown at 61Mbs and $0.27 per Mb. 

I’d dispute the U.S. figures because my guess is that only major population centers figured in the calculations. My average speed is far less and my cost far more than is quoted for the U.S., and I’m willing to bet there are many people in the same slow and leaking boat. Government surveys indicate that something less than half of all Americans enjoy access to truly high-speed Internet service and, of those who do, less than half receive service qualifying as true broadband, despite the ISPs’ claims.

What’s to be done about it? If the government did what is being done in Australia and ran fiber-optic cable wherever wireless doesn’t reach and launched a few satellites better able to handle Internet communications, then things might improve.

And it’d certainly give the flagging economy a boost. The network could be sold to private interests once it was up and running – with a stipulation that service must be maintained in rural areas – or kept as an income generator for Social Security and Medicare. 

Of course there’d be the usual howls of  “socialism” and the big corporations would argue that they do things better and more efficiently than government. Maybe they can, but they don’t. Service to clients and country comes at best a very poor fourth after executive bonuses, profits and “responsibilities to our shareholders.”

(I note that the CEO of one service – which may or may not be the one I cancelled due to high cost and lousy service – has been awarded a year’s compensation just a McDonald’s or two shy of $33 million.)

We are ankle deep in politicians’ crocodile tears shed over business, competition from cheap foreign labor and the plight of the struggling middle-class (forget the poor; they’re always complaining). But part of the remedy is staring them in the face. And not only would a national, hybrid high-speed wireless/fiber-optic/satellite network make rural businesses more competitive, it would do wonders for health and emergency services, traffic lights, schools and the 1001 other things we now depend on in our increasingly complex world.

But shoot, what do I know? I’m just some grudge-ridden malcontent living way out in the boondocks – all of 20 minutes from the State Capital, 15 minutes from a county seat and 35 minutes from the State’s second-largest city. No doubt I get what I deserve.

Here is a letter advocating for the passage of the largely AT&T sponsored DIVA legislation (Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act) - AB2987 - from the AT&T union representative CWA. The letter stated several benefits to the passage of the law, which changed the state from local cable franchising to a statewide franchise, an action which has raised cable rates for consumers, reduced competition and caused the closure of more than 20 public access centers in the state since 2007. AT&T laid off more than tens of thousands employees in the 24-month period after the legislation was passed.

***

April 6, 2006

The Honorable Fabian Nunez, Speaker of the Assembly - Capital Building Room 2117 - Sacramento CA 95814

Dear Speaker Nunuz,

The Communication Workers of America strongly supports Assembly Bill 2987, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006.

(snipped)

AT&T announced last week they would be investing over one billion dollars in digital infrastructure in CA. AB 2987 will insure that this investment will be made and will result in union jobs both to upgrade the current infrastructure and to keep that infrastructure appropriately serviced in the future.

AB 2987 will introduce competition into the cable industry, thus providing consumers with a choice of cable providers. We are well aware that when competition exists, the price of cable services drops dramatically. Consumers win when communication services become more available and affordable in California.

It is not often that one piece of legislation can cut costs to the consumer, provide greater access and create good middle class jobs all in one action. That is why we strongly support AB 2987, and thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely,

Tony Bixler, Vice-President CWA - District 9

 In an uncharacteristic bit of theater, the Social Science Research Council has released a new report on Media Piracy in Emerging Economies with a Consumers Dilemma. Come from a higher-income country? No free report for you!

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From the Social Science Research Council Blog:

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Not  unexpectedly, our Consumers Dilemma license for the report has generated some controversy.  To recap, the CD license creates different paths to acquiring the report: first, we have an IP address geolocator that sends visitors from high income countries toward an $8 paywall when they download the report;  all other resolvable IP addresses get free access.

Criticism so far has taken two general forms:

1)  That we are being unfair in constraining access in high-income countries by setting an $8 pay wall.  This  divides further into what I’ll call a ‘CC left’ position, which thinks the report should be Creative Commons-licensed (and therefore free to everyone), and a ‘Grumpy Right’ position which appears to just resent being asked to pay $8 when others are getting it for free.

2) The view that the license is cheap theater unworthy of the scientific purpose of the study.  Since this complaint is underspecified so far, I’ll assume it includes 1 but is mostly about the commercial reader license, which gets read as juvenile sticking it to the man.

Maybe some clarification is in order here. The reader is faced with a dilemma: pay the legal price, acquire it through pirate channels, or don’t bother with it.  In most of the countries we’ve studied in this report, the results of this calculation with respect to DVDs, music, and software are strikingly consistent.  Media goods are highly desired, exorbitantly priced with respect to local incomes, and freely available through pirate channels.   High rates of piracy and tiny legal markets are the result. We’ve written 400+ pages about this dysfunctional form of globalization and its causes.

The resulting consumers dilemma is a ubiquitous experience in medium and low-income countries but one that confronts the American or European reader much less frequently and with much less intensity.  The global market is made for those consumers.  It is priced and distributed for them. 

The Consumers Dilemma license is a way of reversing that equation and, in the most minor ways,  requiring an explicit engagement with it.  Among the surreal aspects, that simple choice can subject you to crushing civil and criminal penalties, but you can rest easy knowing that only very rare, arbitrary examples will be made (and none in our case).  Now that’s theater.  Our license has a theatrical side, to be sure, but it also stays true to the experiences  documented in the report.  Those experiences–the personal choices and the market and price structure that informs them–are the report’s primary subject.

(* Go here if the resolution of your dilemma is to pay the $8 for the report).

Two new videos: 1 from Reel Grrls in Seattle on this year's Academy Awards spectacle and another from Albuquerque's Media Literacy Project on overpriced vocational schools that exploit young job seekers. 

The Greenlining Institute presents “Mapping Our Future: Drawing Lines that Matter!” – a 5 minute video about California Redistricting in 2011 and what’s at stake for communities of color. Redistricting - the process of re-drawing state election districts - is one of the most important political processes happening in 2011. It will determine whether your community has a voice in government for the next 10 years!  This is your chance to get involved.

As part of the Greenlinging Institute's state-wide civic engagement campaign to ensure that California's low-income communities and communities of color are heard as decisions are being made, you are invited to join in on one of the upcoming community meetings. More information available via the Greenlining Institute Facebook page.

The Media Freedom Foundation's 2011 Censored is out with the 25 most under-reported stories of 2010. Please support the work of Project Censored and buy a copy today!