Information Needs of Communities

The FCC Working Group on the Information Needs of Communities delivered a report on June 9, 2011 addressing the rapidly changing media landscape in a broadband age. In 2009, a bipartisan Knight Commission found that while the broadband age is enabling an information and communications renaissance, local communities in particular are being unevenly served with critical information about local issues.

Soon after the Knight Commission delivered its findings, the FCC initiated a staff-level working group to identify crosscurrent and trend, and make recommendations on how the information needs of communities can be met in a broadband world.

Executive Summary & Overview

Part One — The Media Landscape

Commercial Media

  1. Newspapers
  2. Radio
  3. TV
  4. Internet
  5. Mobile

Nonprofit Media

  1. Public Broadcasting
  2. Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access Channels
  3. C-SPAN and State Public Affairs Networks
  4. Satellite
  5. Low Power FM
  6. Religious Broadcasting
  7. Nonprofit Websites
  8. Foundations
  9. Journalism Schools
  10. The Evolving Nonprofit Media

Non-Media Players

  1. Government Transparency
  2. Emergency Information
  3. Libraries
  4. Schools

Key Cross Cutting Issues

  1. News Consumption
  2. Types of News
  3. The Media Food Chain and the Functions of Journalism
  4. Diversity
  5. People with Disabilities
  6. How Big is the Gap and Who Will Fill It?

Part Two – The Policy and Regulatory Landscape

  1. Broadcast Radio and Television
  2. Cable Television
  3. Satellite Television and Radio
  4. The Internet and Mobile
  5. Ownership
  6. Nonprofit media
  7. Advertising Policy
  8. Print
  9. Copyright and Intellectual Property

Part Three – Recommendations

  1. Recommendations
  2. Footnotes
  3. Acknowledgments

Launch Events

Background Documents

Blog

Workshops

Bureau/Office:
Economics and Analytics