Blog

  • Interview on FCC Vote

    On Thursday, December 20th, I talked with Tom Klammer the host of Tell Somebody on KKFI community radio in Kansas City. To listen online go here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/580370315b0b4f/ To download and listen in iTunes go here: http://www.zshare.net/download/580370315b0b4f/ Read more

  • Kevin Martin Picks a Fight With America

    Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to remove the longstanding “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership” ban that prohibits a local newspaper from owning a broadcast station in the same market. When the Commission voted today, 3-to-2 along party lines, they did so in spite of enormous public pressure and stern warnings from Congress. But that’s not all. InContinue… Read more

  • Making Eating Public

    I first heard the term “guerrilla gardening” when I was living in Providence, Rhode Island. A good friend of mine was working for the Southside Community Land Trust there, helping on their various farms and running their weekly farmers market. He used to make seed balls with sunflower seeds and top soil, packing them intoContinue… Read more

  • Is Junk Media Making Us Sick?

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  • Remaking Northampton

    The truth is, I don’t know much about Northampton’s sustainability plan. I should, but I just don’t. This plan addresses so many aspects of what I care about: community, conservation, sense of place, development. It is going to have a huge impact on the town that my wife and I plan to call home forContinue… Read more

  • Dissonance

    There are lots of times when the nightly news leaves me shaking my head in awe, in anger, or in anguish. But there are other times when some combination of news items creates such a profound sense of dissonance that it sticks with me for days or weeks, haunting my thoughts. Recently I read twoContinue… Read more

  • Murdoch TV Station Moves from NYC to NJ…in Just 2 Hours!

    On Wednesday night at a public hearing held at Rutgers University, two Federal Communications Commissioners, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and scores of activists berated Rupert Murdoch’s WWOR-TV, Channel 9. Purchased in 2000 by Murdoch’s NewsCorp., the Secaucus, New Jersey-based station has operated as if it were based in New York City. Independent studies confirmedContinue… Read more

  • Tina Fey Turns The Tables on Verizon

    Recently, Verizon and NBC struck up a deal to push Verizon Wireless products in 30 Rock, but they did not count on Tina Fey turning the tables, calling out Verizon for this covert marketing effort. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36wUmJGzvA Product integration is a much more nafarious version of product placemen, in which studios makeContinue… Read more

  • New Jersey Citizens Fight to Be Heard

    Tomorrow afternoon, Nov. 28, there is going to be an unprecedented Federal Communications Commission hearing in New Jersey. Concerned citizens and public interest groups have petitioned the FCC to deny WWOR-TV 9’s broadcast license, asserting that the station hasn’t lived up to its commitment to serve New Jersey. It’s one of the first public hearingsContinue… Read more

  • Blogging a Sense of Place

    I have written a bit on this and other blogs about sense of place. For anyone who knows me, they know this is a pet issue of mine. One that I find creeps into much of my other work. As I have been traveling around the country organizing public involvement in FCC hearings on mediaContinue… Read more