. . . And Communications for All: A Policy Agenda for a New Administration

by Amit M. Schejter (Editor)

Overview

In . . . And Communications for All, 16 leading communications policy scholars present a comprehensive telecommunications policy agenda for the new federal administration. This agenda emphasizes the potential of information technologies to improve democratic discourse, social responsibility, and the quality of life along with the means by which it can be made available to all Americans. Schejter has assembled an analysis of the reasons for the failure of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and offers an international benchmark for the future of telecommunications. Addressing a range of topics, including network neutrality, rural connectivity, media ownership, minority ownership, spectrum policy, universal broadband policy, and media for children, it articulates a comprehensive vision for the United States as a twenty-first-century information society that is both internally inclusive and globally competitive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739134832
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/16/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	374
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Amit M. Schejter is associate professor of communications and codirector of the Institute for Information Policy at the Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Frameworks
Chapter 3 Broadband, Internet, and Universal Service: Challenges to the Social Contract of the Twenty-First Century
Chapter 4 Digital Media, Modern Democracy, and Our Truncated National Debate
Chapter 5 Public Scholarship and the Communications Policy Agenda
Chapter 6 International Benchmarks: The Crisis in U.S. Communications Policy through a Comparative Lens
Chapter 7 Infastructures and Industries
Chapter 8 Competition and Investment in Wireline Broadband
Chapter 9 U.S. Cable TV Policy: Managing the Transition to Broadband
Chapter 10 A Spectrum Policy Agenda
Chapter 11 The Way Forward for Wireless
Chapter 12 Rethinking the Media Ownership Policy Agenda
Chapter 13 Access
Chapter 14 Universal Service
Chapter 15 America's Forgotten Challenge: Rural Access
Chapter 16 Municipal Broadband
Chapter 17 The Future of the E-Rate: U.S. Universal Service Fund Support for Public Access and Social Services
Chapter 18 Content
Chapter 19 Public Service Media 2.0
Chapter 20 Creating a Media Policy Agenda for the Digital Generation
Chapter 21 Race and Media: Several Key Proposals for the Next Administration

Editorial Reviews

There is a lot of useful insight and some original ideas here.

Communication Booknotes Quarterly - Chris Sterling

[A] must-read for policy makers, educators, industry leaders, and others interested in bringing US communications into the 21st century.. .. Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

These respected authors serve up a rich banquet of food for thought. It should be required reading for policymakers — and those who want to influence them, as well. Just as innovative technologies will continue to drive our economic growth, the creative proposals in this book should drive innovation in developing the communications agenda to meet the new challenges we face.

The Honorable Jonathan S. Adelstein

And Communications for All offers many essential policy adjustments that the new administration should implement to promote a more affordable, open communications network that advances democracy and enhances freedom.

Gene Kimmelman

It is remarkable to find a book that genuinely integrates the work of contributing authors. Amit Schejter has accomplished that in this work, bringing together many of the brightest minds in communications policy to make a forceful set of policy recommendations on the full range of current issues, from wireline regulation and universal service to public television.

David Waterman

Few issues are more fundamental to the healthy functioning of our democracy than the existence of an open and diverse media system. For too long Communication scholars have been absent from ongoing policy debates about how to best achieve this goal. This timely and excellent collection of essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, goes a long way to remedying this abdication of our public interest obligation.

Michael X. Delli Carpini

[A] must-read for policy makers, educators, industry leaders, and others interested in bringing US communications into the 21st century.. .. Highly recommended.

October 2009 Choice Reviews

[A] must-read for policy makers, educators, industry leaders, and others interested in bringing US communications into the 21st century.. .. Highly recommended.

Choice

[A] must-read for policy makers, educators, industry leaders, and others interested in bringing US communications into the 21st century.. .. Highly recommended.

October 2009 CHOICE

There is a lot of useful insight and some original ideas here.--Chris Sterling "Communication Booknotes Quarterly, April-June 2009, Vol 40.2 "

Few issues are more fundamental to the healthy functioning of our democracy than the existence of an open and diverse media system. For too long Communication scholars have been absent from ongoing policy debates about how to best achieve this goal. This timely and excellent collection of essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, goes a long way to remedying this abdication of our public interest obligation.--Michael X. Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

It is remarkable to find a book that genuinely integrates the work of contributing authors. Amit Schejter has accomplished that in this work, bringing together many of the brightest minds in communications policy to make a forceful set of policy recommendations on the full range of current issues, from wireline regulation and universal service to public television.--David Waterman, professor, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University

From the Publisher