Net Neutrality

By David Swanson

What it would have cost us to publicly fund independent media that would have prevented the invasion of Iraq wouldn't amount, in a year, to what we spend on a month of occupying that country. 

Diverting the cost of a month of war to a year of giving substance to our "freedom of the press" would mean that the last time someone asked you about the Teabaggers' genius in being smart enough to talk dumb enough to persuade everyone to be racists would, in fact, be the LAST time anyone would ask you how a creation of the corporate media manages to get coverage from the corporate media.

Glen Greenwald asks,

Is it even theoretically possible to have a worse, more deceitful and more moronic press than the one we have?

Atrios responds, Sadly, yes. But for once I disagree with Atrios. And the reasons are purely market-driven.

The only reason the "press" exists is to filter news for citizens who don't have time to filter the ever-raging torrent of news themselves. Otherwise no one would "consume" its product.

By David Swanson

Judy Daubenmier spent 25 years as a reporter for the Associated Press and saw the field of news reporting sliding downhill. Now she works to reform our system of communications through the internet. Daubenmier is the author and editor of "Project Rewire: News Media from the Inside Out." I talked to her about her work and her hopes for news reporting in the future.

Here's the audio.

After we swept Congress in November, I got royally pissed when MyDD's Matt Stoller claimed the progressive netroots has "no legislative agenda except for net neutrality."

Does Stoller really think the millions who read progressive blogs have no legislative agenda except net neutrality??

Does he think we have collectively donated millions of dollars and millions of volunteer hours (not to mention millions of hours reading blogs and praying for change) for net neutrality??

Update: Truthout's got the prepared speech transcript for those who'd like to read it...

Part 1 - 32 min.

Moyers: We ‘Lit a Fire’ in Washington From SavetheInternet.com, January 14, 2007 By Timothy Karr

Veteran television journalist Bill Moyers opened the National Conference for Media Reform Friday with praise for SavetheInternet.com’s grassroots campaign to keep the Internet open and fair. “You lit a fire under people to put Washington on Notice,” Moyers told a packed house of more than 3,000 activists and organizers. Net Neutrality, which Moyers dubbed the “Equal Access Provision of the Internet,” became a broad public issue “that once again reminded the powers that be that people want the media to foster democracy not to quench it.”...

From www.SavetheInternet.com

In the six months since the SavetheInternet.com Coalition was launched, millions of Americans have joined the campaign, spoken out for Internet freedom and put Congress and the phone companies on notice.

This grassroots movement barely existed at the beginning of 2006. Now we're on the verge of toppling one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.

The reason for our success? Organized and overwhelming public support for a free and open Internet.

Here's where things stand today:

Staying Organized and Energized

Phone and cable companies have spent more than $100 million on lobbyists, Astroturf groups, political campaigns and PR firms. But they are finding that money can't overcome organized public opposition.

If we were to build a progressive subscription service, we’d have more clout to fight the un-democratization of the Internet. From BBC News:

Defeat for net neutrality backers

US politicians have rejected attempts to enshrine the principle of net neutrality in legislation.

Some fear the decision will mean net providers start deciding on behalf of customers which websites and services they can visit and use.

Matt Stoller discovered the GOP's secret plan in the Austin American Statesman:

The House and Senate are preparing to vote on telecommunications legislation that could affect every American who surfs the Internet, watches cable TV or uses a phone.

But no one should waste much time watching the floor debates on C-SPAN. The lawmakers admit their goal is not to pass definitive legislation in public in the coming weeks.