3W Design Group - Media

The issue of net neutrality is examined this Wednesday, October 18 as PBS airs an important episode of PBS’ Moyers on America. Reporter Rick Karr examines the future of the Internet in an episode called The Net at Risk.

Here’s a bit of the description:

The future of the Internet is up for grabs. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively eliminated net neutrality rules, which ensured that every content creator on the Internet-from big-time media concerns to backroom bloggers-had equal opportunity to make their voice heard. Now, large and powerful corporations are lobbying Washington to turn the World Wide Web into what critics call a “toll road,” threatening the equitability that has come to define global democracy’s newest forum. Yet the public knows little about what’s happening behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.

“The genius of the Internet was that it made the First Amendment a living document again for millions of Americans,” says Robert McChesney, a media scholar and activist and co-author of OUR MEDIA, NOT THEIRS. “The decisions that we’re going be making … are probably going to set our entire communication system, and, really, our entire society, on a course that it won’t be able to change for generations.”

If you are not yet scared, you should be. Former Bill Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry has turned shill for the big telecom companies seeking to turn the Web into their own personal gold mine. To listen to an interview with Rick Karr, visit On the Media( The Piper Wants to Get Paid).

To find your local PBS station click here.