Gary Chapman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in the LA Times: >One of the most ambitious and novel ideas has come from two >television and public policy veterans, Lawrence K. Grossman and >Newton H. Minow. Grossman was the president of both NBC and the >Public Broadcasting Service, and Minow is a former chairman of PBS, >the Federal Communications Commission and the Rand Corp. On April 5, >they announced a proposal for a new Digital Opportunity Investment >Trust, a public agency modeled on the National Science Foundation >and funded with $10 billion from the anticipated public auctions of >telecommunications frequency spectrum to digital wireless companies. >(More information is available at http://www.digitalpromise.org.) >This fund would support the development of digital information and >services for educational, cultural, artistic and civic activities, >Grossman said. Online material is increasingly expensive to create >and will get even more expensive as we move to broadband networks >that can support video and high-quality audio as well as >interactivity. The only thing you really need to know about Digital Promise is this line from their welcome statement: "...halt the encroachment of purely marketplace values..." Regards, Matt- The organizations sponsoring the Digital Promise Project are: > Carnegie Corporation of New York > The Century Foundation > John S. and James L. Knight Foundation > John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation > Open Society Institute The following individuals are principle figures in the administration of the Project: Lawrence K. Grossman is former president of NBC News and PBS, advertising agency owner, holder of the Frank Stanton First Amendment Chair at the Kennedy School of Government, and senior fellow and visiting scholar at Columbia University. He currently serves as a trustee of Connecticut Public Broadcasting and various nonprofit health organizations, as a television columnist for Columbia Journalism Review, and as a Dupont-Columbia Journalism Award juror. He is the author of The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age. (Viking/Penguin and The Twentieth Century Fund, 1996) Newton N. Minow is former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, PBS, the RAND Corporation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He was a board member of CBS and the Tribune Company, and is a life trustee of Notre Dame and Northwestern Universities. He is coauthor (with Craig L. Lamay) of Abandoned in the Wasteland, an influential book on television and children. Senior Counsel to Sidley & Austin, Mr. Minow is also the Annenberg Professor of Communications Law and Policy at Northwestern University. Both Mr. Minow and Mr. Grossman have undertaken this project on a pro bono basis. Project Director is Edith C. Bjornson, a consultant to not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in new media. She was formerly vice president for programming at Westinghouse Broadcasting and Cable, and vice president and senior program officer of the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York New Media Association, Connecticut Public Television and Radio, and is a life trustee of the HealthCare Chaplaincy. Anne G. Murphy is a consultant specializing in public policy and the arts and humanities. Clients have included OVATION, a cable network dedicated to the arts; and the National Cultural Alliance. She was Director of the American Arts Alliance managing matters of public policy, legislation, and public relations. Earlier in her career she held senior positions at the Public Broadcasting Service and the National Endowment for the Arts. She serves on the Board of Overseers for the Corcoran Museum of Art. Henry Geller was general counsel of the FCC, 1964-1970. After leaving the commission, he was associated with the Rand Corporation and the Aspen Institute until 1978 when he became assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information (and the NTIA Administrator) in the Carter administration. In 1981, he became director of the Washington Center for Public Policy Research of Duke University and a professor of practice at Duke. From 1989 through 1998, he was a communications fellow at the Markle Foundation. <snip> ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, 2175 Bayfield Drive, Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************
