Month: December 2001

I’m taking a little holiday break so there won’t be any big posts until Jan. 3. In the meantime here are some links to explore: The FCC is accepting petitions to deny the merger of DirecTV and Echostar/Dish Network direct satellite TV providers. The FCC has a page dedicated to the merger. Previously on mediageek:…

The LA Times reports that “Freenets Getting a New Lease on Life.” It’s good to see that after the bottoming out of the “give it away for free, make money later” concept there are still some freenets around, because it’s clear that the need still exists. My local freenet, Prairienet, has had some hard times,…

The Uncovered Causes Behind “Riots” & “Chaos” — People Use Indymedia to Report from the Streets of Argentina The streets of Argentina’s cities and towns have been erupting in protests and rioting the past few days over the economic austerity policies the gov’t has implemented in order to qualify for more loans from the In’t…

Salon’s Eric Boehlert continue’s to prove himself to be one of the best mainstream journalists covering the media business in the US. His latest article takes a multifaceted look at the declining music industry, identifying several indicators of the decline–lower CDs sales and radio industry losses–and digging for causes–mostly record industry recalcitrance. He also writes…

Got them consolidation blues: Comcast agrees to buy AT&T’s broadband cable TV outfit, says it wants to get into local phone service to its new base of 30 million customers.

Wireless Broadband Internet Gaining Steam? Yesterday’s SF Chronicle has an article, “COMMUNAL BROADBRAND; Neighbors sharing high-speed Internet access via wireless networks is popular and controversial”–the title pretty much sums it up. The wireless freenet project in Champaign-Urbana has been ramping up lately, though I haven’t had the time to be directly involved. I know those…

“The Revolution Will Be Photocopied” is an article in the Sept/Oct Utne Reader on the Underground Publishing Conference. A little too short to really give a good taste of it, the article nonetheless provides a snapshot of what the event is all about. I’m pretty certain the shortness is the result of Utne Reader editorial…

Why We Need Alt/Indy Media Guerrilla News has an interview with one of the best muckraking journalists working today, Greg Palast, a Canadian ex-pat living in Britain and working for the Guardian. In this interview Palast explains how North American media won’t touch truly controversial investigative reporting when it gets too close to corporate and…

A Pacifica Resolution (again) Yesterday the plaintiffs in four lawsuits against the Pacifica National Board came to a settlement agreement with the Board that basically mirrors the resolution the Board passed in late Nov. to transfer power to an interim board and re-establish democracy within the network. This agreement is legally binding, under a judge’s…