Media reform news

Bill Moyers will tackle Net Neutrality, community broadband, media ownership and the digital divide in the final installment of his "Moyers on America" series of specials on PBS -- Then go online for a debate between Mike McCurry of Hands Off the Internet and Ben Scott of SavetheInternet.com Tune in to The Net at Risk tomorrow night.

AT&T Makes Some Net Neutrality Concessions

AT&T is willing to adhere to the FCC Net Neutrality principles for only 30 months after the official closing of its proposed merger with BellSouth.

Roy Mark, Internet News

AT&T Suggests Possible Merger Conditions

The concessions AT&T are offering in their merger with BellSouth are certainly a step in the right direction, but they come with a few caveats: They have their own definition of broadband, and many of consumer-friendly provisions expire after 30 months.

Nate Anderson, ars technica

AT&T, BellSouth Shares Fall After FCC Delay on Deal

AT&T and BellSouth shares fell after the FCC announced a delay on their merger approval. Although the telcos are confident the deal with go through, some analysts say that a further delay may cause problems for the merger.

Jeremy Pelofsky, Reuters

AT&T's '30-Month' Net Neutrality Merger Trade-in Offer: What a Joke!

AT&T's offer underscores why permanent network neutrality safeguards are worth fighting for. The very companies who will provide the vast majority of broadband service, such as AT&T, really don't want the public to have it.

Jeffrey Chester, Digital Destiny

Oops: AT&T-BellSouth Forgets Net Neutrality

AT&T-BellSouth has filed a new version of its proposed merger conditions with the FCC. It corrects a "typo" that omitted from the Net Neutrality condition, that they would only adhere to Net Neutrality rules for 30 months.

John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable

AT&T's Promises to FCC Are Full of Holes

Memos bouncing around between AT&T and the FCC appear to have AT&T pledging that if the FCC breaks its 2-2 deadlock and approves the acquisition of BellSouth, then AT&T will be good. But the language is so generalized that it is full of holes.

Russell Shaw, ZDNet

Don't Let Ma Bell Monopolize the Internet

Against An Imperial Internet

The monopolists tell us not to worry: They will take care of us, and see to it that the public interest is honored and democracy served by this most remarkable of technologies. Will future historians speak of an Internet Golden Age that ended when the 21st century began?

Bill Moyers & Scott Fogdall, TomPaine.com

No Room for Neutrality on Net Neutrality

The public discourse on Net Neutrality has been polluted by the telecom industry to needlessly problematizing issues that are already settled in the scientific community, and propping up positions that would be discredited in any objective analysis.

Victor Pickard & Sascha D. Meinrath, Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center

Oregon Senator Addresses the Internet at Risk

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will speak about Net Neutrality and the fight in Congress over the future of the Internet at a press conference tomorrow in Portland.

Glendale Oregon News

Joe Lieberman Sells Out the Internet

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) says that he supports the principle of Net Neutrality, but he will vote for the telecom industry's bill which was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee without any Net Neutrality provision.

David Isenberg, Isen Blog

Lieberman Opts for Net Neutrality Sell-Out

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has announced that, while he suppports Net Neutrality, he is going to vote for the telecom industry's bill.

Mitch Ratcliffe, ZDNet

Tell Your Senators to Save the Internet

As Talk Radio Wavers, Bush Moves to Firm Up Support

An influential group of conservative radio hosts were at the Oval Office for an unannounced, private audience with the president as part of an intensive Republican Party campaign to reclaim and re-energize a crucial army of supporters.

Jim Rutenberg, New York Times

152nd Journalist Killed in Iraq

The weekend killing of an Iraqi radio correspondent and producer has brought the number of journalists killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to 152.

United Press International

Jailed Journalist: Sami's Shame, and Ours

There is no public evidence that Sami al-Hajj committed any crime other than journalism for a television network the Bush administration doesn't like.

Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times

Pentagon Defends Detention of AP Photographer in Iraq

The Pentagon has brushed off a request from a journalist organization seeking more information and a decision on Bilal Hussein, an Associated Press photographer held for six months in Iraq without formal charges.

Associated Press

Blogger Stays in Prison, Defying Grand Jury Order

Blogger and anarchist Josh Wolf, spending his 57th day in federal prison today for refusing to surrender video he shot of a violent San Francisco protest, is well on his way to becoming the longest-jailed journalist in U.S. history.

Demian Bulwa, San Francisco Chronicle

Publisher and Top Editor of Toronto Star Resign

The Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, said on Monday that its publisher, Michael Goldbloom, and its editor-in-chief, Giles Gherson, had both resigned.

Ian Austen, New York Times

Senate Debate in Hartford: Not Live, and No Local Media Allowed

WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn. is sponsoring the only debate of all five candidates in Connecticut's Senate race, but it has banned representatives of the news media -- other than its own -- and will show a 1-hour canned version after a 27-hour news blackout

Jon Lender, Hartford Courant