Universal Broadband Necessary Component of Successful New Media, Says Genachowski
Universal broadband adoption will be as important to the news business as universal adoption of the delivery services for newspapers, radio and TV were to those media, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at the Columbia Journalism School Friday. Genachowski, along with Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen and FCC Senior Adviser Steve Waldman, spoke about the FCC report on the status and future of media (CD June 10 p1). Waldman was its primary author.
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Universal broadband adoption from today’s current level would mean “a 50 percent increase in the online audience,” Genachowski said. “The larger the online market, the greater the scale, the more likely a news and information online business can succeed.” The move from traditional media into digital media creates both opportunities and challenges in coming years, he said. The Internet has allowed entrepreneurs to actively compete with some of the established media players, in part because “digital innovations have made the gathering and distribution of news and information faster, less expensive and more democratic,” said Genachowski.
The emergence of hyperlocal news is one positive result of the move to the Internet and even in the best days of newspapers “this type of block-by-block news and information wasn’t available,” Genachowski said. “In our nation’s history, we have never had a greater opportunity to realize our founding vision of a vibrant democracy bolstered by a strong free press and informed citizens.” The Internet and economic pressure have hurt local newsgathering, Genachowski said. The report points to a gap in local news reporting that hasn’t been filled by digital media, he said: That gap hurts the health of democracy.
Genachowski said the report successfully avoids treading into the constitutional issues of government involvement in media. It started “with the overriding and correct recognition that the First Amendment significantly limits the role government can play in addressing issues around news and speech,” he said. “There’s a school of thought that would have government help journalism through content mandates on journalism outlets. Steve [Waldman] and I didn’t go to that school.”