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APPENDIX II

Executive Director’s Memo: Potential Action Items

Date: September 1, 2009
To: Marissa Mayer and Theodore B. Olson, Co-Chairs
From: Peter Shane, Executive Director
Re: Some Potential Responses to Informing Communities

I have prepared for your review a list of some of the kinds of responses the Commission might anticipate from various actors if they were moved to implement vigorously the Commission’s 15 actual recommendations. In some cases, these speculations are more specific than the Commission’s recommendations and have not been discussed or endorsed. Nonetheless, the list gives an idea of the range of initiatives likely at least to come under consideration within the report’s various potential audiences. Of course, the specific steps needed to implement the Commission’s strategies and recommendations will probably evolve over time and take different forms in different communities. When the Commission launches its online public dialogue with the launch of the report, the public will undoubtedly have additional or substitute suggestions.

Congress

Adopt universal broadband as the standard for the country, creating a network that connects the nation, just as the nation has done with railroads and highways.

Require federal agencies to collect information electronically and, wherever possible, place it online in accessible, standard, searchable formats.

Fund the development of special training programs for federal employees responsible for handling records requests.

Require agencies to pay penalties from general appropriations if found by a court to have acted in gross disregard of the law in withholding mandatorily disclosable records from the public.

Authorize the administrative imposition of discipline on agency employees who willfully violate their own public information rules.

Adopt a Government Contractor FOIA to ensure public access to the records of private contractors that bear on the discharge of their public functions.

Require agencies, where practicable, to allow citizens to participate in hearings or other fact-gathering processes electronically.

Provide for the televising of federal judicial proceedings, except when precluded in rare, special circumstances.

Consider a federal tax credit for the support of investigative journalism.

Allow permissive joint operation for for-profit and not-forprofit enterprises within the federal tax law regime.

Amend deduction limits for contributions to nonprofit news organizations and deferral of gain in taxable acquisitions of newspapers by not-for-profit businesses.

Authorize increased support for public media, including increases for news and information at the local level.

Adopt tax relief on ad revenues to support the growth of nonprofit journalism.

Increase the postal subsidy for the delivery of nonprofit print journalism.

Direct the Department of Education to launch a national initiative to assess the quality of digital and media literacy programs in the nation’s schools.

Authorize the FCC to expand the categories of library services available for support from E-rate funding.

Appropriate funds to help support local community “Geek Corps” that involve young adults 18–26 in providing technical training and consultation to local governments and community groups.

State Legislatures

Recognize universal broadband as part of a national standard, creating a network that connects everyone in the state at least at the level set by the federal government.

Reform state FOI laws to promote best practices. Reaffirm that all information should be public unless specifically exempted by statute.

Require state and local agencies to collect information wherever possible electronically and in standard formats.

Fund the development of special training programs for state and local employees responsible for handling records requests.

Require agencies to pay penalties from general appropriations if found by a court to have acted in gross disregard of the law in withholding public records.

Authorize the administrative imposition of discipline on agency employees who willfully violate their own public information rules.

Adopt a Government Contractor FOIA to ensure public access to the records of private contractors that bear on the discharge of their public functions.

Require agencies, where practicable, to allow citizens to participate in hearings or other fact-gathering processes electronically.

Provide for the televising of state judicial proceedings, except in rare, special circumstances.

Exempt the purchase of print and online journalismfrom state and local sales taxes.

Support the creation of community-focused venture funds and local tax incentives to spur local entrepreneurship in media and technology applications.

Adopt tax law changes to support the growth of not-for-profit journalism.

Consider “community information enhancement” in the design and construction of public facilities built with local funds.

Mandate the development of state curricular standards on media and digital literacy.

FCC and Other Federal Agencies

Complete a national broadband strategy aimed at bringing Americans low-cost high-speed Internet access, including wireless, everywhere they want and need it.

Establish a national target for household broadband access at speeds sufficient to support video transmission at a level of quality comparable to the household video services now delivered through cable and satellite television services.

Adopt public policies encouraging consumer demand for broadband services. Continue to use financial incentives to help spur broadband deployment in areas where it has lagged because of market conditions.

Consider an inquiry to define the appropriate characteristics of open networks.

Determine and clearly map the kinds of Internet connectivity American households have—looking at speed, cost, the service providers involved, and whether access is wire-based or wireless.

Push for the inclusion of public, educational, and government cable channels in the basic cable package offered by any cable service operator.Use E-rate funds to support public libraries’ creation of mobile teaching labs to provide digital literacy instruction.

Pursue spectrum policies to accommodate low-power FM and other innovations that increase the number of broadcast voices over the local airwaves.

Promote diversity in media ownership.

Foundations

Host community forums on meeting the information needs of the community, perhaps modeled on the KnightCommission forums, to produce a local action agenda to improve information flow.

Encourage online information hubs in communities where market conditions have not established them.

Provide short-term fellowships for journalists covering state and local government.

Support community-based technology centers to provide the training and equipment for citizens to produce, organize, and disseminate information through online and broadcast platforms.

Condition new support for public media on the digital transformation and localization of the service.

Promote media projects aimed at serving entire communities.

Follow up on the recommendations in this report to see to their implementation.

Libraries

Create mobile “digital literacy” classrooms.

Provide classes or other means of teaching digital literacy.

Host community forums on local issues.

Provide the technology needed to meet public demand.

Universities, Colleges, and Community Colleges

Create civic engagement programs across the curriculum that credit students for community projects that develop their civic knowledge.

Encourage research aimed at describing, measuring, and comparing the quality of community news and information flow over time and across geographies.

Expand free and low-cost adult digital and media literacy courses.

Reward faculty research relevant to local issues that is shared through public outreach initiatives.

Distribute as much research as possible clearly and openly online.

Create teacher education courses on the integration of digital and media literacy into K–12 subject matters.

Local Governments

Conduct systematic self-assessments of their information environments. A possible starting point for such an assessment is the Commission’s Healthy Information Community checklist.

Fund community organizations providing digital media instruction to the general public.

Fund digital and media literacy instruction in the public schools.

Ensure that all public high schools support opportunities for students to engage in journalism in all forms.

Ensure that the financial resources available to public libraries in FY 2011 are sufficient to meet community needs, including the provision of computing services and high-speed Internet connections, plus staffing adequate to provide support and training for digital literacy programs.

Support community “Geek Corps” that involve young adults 18–26 in providing technical training and consultation to local governments and community groups.

Stage community summits as a way of empowering both individual citizens and community groups to organize around an action agenda that they help to develop and implement for the resolution of local issues.

Consider a “community information enhancement” in the design and construction of public facilities built with local funds.

Take leadership in fostering widespread broadband diffusion to all citizens in the community.

Provide local government information online in understandable, standardized, searchable formats; invite citizens to participate in local hearings electronically; and provide government services online in streamlined form.

Fund the development of special training programs for employees responsible for handling records requests.

Allocate local government funds for advertising in ways that reach the entire community.

K–12 Education

Teach students, in age-appropriate ways, to interpret and evaluate what is presented to them as news and information.

Help students to develop digital and media skills that will enable them to produce and communicate their ideas and creative products effectively and engage productively with online information networks.

Encourage students to develop the habits and ethics that support respectful online interaction with others.

Media and News Organizations

Openly share and discuss the organization’s strategies to make sure that issues relevant to all segments of the community receive appropriate coverage.

Sustain the “watchdog” function essential to civic accountability and promote public understanding of its value.

Participate vigorously to keep government open.

Serve the interests of public debate.

Strive to have the diversity of staff at all levels reflect the diversity of the community it serves.

Operate the daily news operations of verification and clarification with integrity, accountability, and openness.

Provide staff training to maintain standards and credibility and foster innovation.

Consider work with citizens who are actively engaged in local news reporting through blogs and Web sites.

Civic Organizations

Create high-quality local information portals and blogs on the issues around which the group is organized.

Tech Companies and Entrepreneurs

To the extent permitted by law, provide pro bono or discounted services and products to help state and local governments build the information infrastructure necessary to achieve openness and transparency.

Citizens

Be a media literate citizen who takes full advantage of the opportunities of the digital age.

Prod local authorities to take stock of the community’s information environment, starting with the Knight Commission’s “Taking Stock: Are you a Healthy Community?” checklist, and blog about the issues raised.

Consume news from multiple sources.

Vote.

Be vigilant to protect the freedom of expression of all speakers, while also protective of other people’s privacy, property rights, and sensibilities.