Excellent interview with Jeff Jarvis, touching on just about every “hot” issue in new media. For example—
One tangible result of this is nichefication of media. Some would say that’s a bad thing; they wail about the death of great shared experience of American media. But the truth is that the shared experience lived only from the ’50s to the ’90s as the growth of three networks resulted in the death of competitive newspaper towns and we lived in a world of one-size-fits-all media. That is over. Now you can find the content that suits your needs. And that’s good. That’s about control…
on the FCC—
EM: What role should the FCC and other regulators play in this new media environment? What should our legal/regulatory structure for broadcasters and existing media look like? If it should be changed, how does this change come about?
JJ: The FCC should get the F out of the way.
In First Amendment terms, it is outmoded and offensive to think that broadcast speech should be excluded from constitutional protections of free speech. It is offensive in this country for the government to decree what can and can’t be said by citizens.
Which is especially important given the recent FCC powergrab noted by Susan Crawford—
The FCC’s brief, filed in response to PK’s challenge to FCC’s jurisdiction in the flag matter, is breathtaking. FCC’s position is that its Act gives it regulatory power over all instrumentalities, facilities, and apparatus “associated with the overall circuit of messages sent and received” via all interstate radio and wire communication. That’s quite a claim.
FCC believes that it has simply been restraining itself up until now. Since 1934 (or 1927, depending on how you count), FCC has had power over all equipment used in connection with radio and wire transmissions. When the need arises, it can exercise its authority — including its authority over PCs, PVRs, and any new gizmo that has something to do with a communication of some sort.
For more on the subject(s) of “citizen media”, check out We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People By Dan Gillmor, which you can download for free.