These may be the best of times and the worst of times for the cause of fact-based political discourse. By almost any measure, the 2012 presidential race is shaping up to be the most scrutinized electoral contest in American history, with every candidate’s every utterance vetted by droves of Twitterati, traditional news outlets, non-profits dedicated to objectivity, partisan media critics, and opposing campaigns themselves.   

Music, arts, journalism, education, science, activism, search, and health. These are only some of the areas in which Creative Commons' “copyleft” licenses have been successfully applied since their creation in 2002, according to speakers at a New America Foundation event on June 29.

On June 15, the New America Foundation hosted an event discussing the Federal Communications Commission report “Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age.” The report, released June 9 by the FCC Working Group on the Information Needs of Communities, provides an in-depth snapshot of the current state of U.S. media and makes policy recommendations based on an analysis of more than 600 interviews, thousands of public comments, and several workshops and site visits.

On February 9, the New America Foundation hosted an event about the new report "Full Spectrum Community Media: Expanding Public Access to Communications Infrastructure".  Key areas of interest discussed amongst the panelists were the core features of community produced media – content, training, space, and access to information distribution – and the ability of community based media to fill gaps left by other broadcasters in serving local interests.  Focus was given to the adaptability of community media in serving their surround