Rutgers-Camden law professor participates in FCC study
But while this information age has fostered tremendous innovation, traditional media, such as newspapers and public broadcasting, are struggling or collapsing.
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission launched its Future of Media project to respond to the changes in the media marketplace and answer questions about the role that traditional media will play in the future.
Ellen Goodman, a professor of law at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, is serving as a distinguished visiting scholar on the initiative and is taking a look at public media’s place in the digital age.
“The project is really the first time the FCC has examined the whole media industry and is asking questions about what’s happening in journalism,” Goodman says. “How do the rules and policies in the FCC and in other parts of government impact what kinds of information is being produced and what kinds of information people have access to?”
According to the FCC, the goal of the project is “to produce a report providing a clear, precise assessment of the current media landscape, analyze policy options and, as appropriate, make policy recommendations to the FCC, other government entities, and other parties.”
A leading expert on public media and media policy, Goodman is participating in the project as a Ford Foundation grantee developing new policy principles for public media in a networked age.
The Harvard Law School graduate is drawing on more than two decades of expertise in telecommunications and media law to help shape the future of the nation’s public media system.
“We are defining public media broadly to not only include public broadcasting, but also much of the nonprofit media sector as a whole,” Goodman says.
The project seeks to understand how noncommercial television and radio licensees should change to meet the challenges and opportunities presented in the digital era. The goal is to develop a blueprint for enhancing the nation’s system of public media as it makes a transition from public broadcasting to a network of services that range over many platforms.
The issues that Goodman and others on the team are considering include: the trends and current state of affairs regarding news staffing and coverage; the ways in which public and noncommercial media entities contribute to the information needs of communities across multiple platforms; possibilities for greater collaboration among noncommercial media entities; the role of public and other noncommercial media serving the information needs of underserved communities; and innovative uses of social media and other technologies.
“It’s become apparent through all of the research we’ve done that public media is in a time of huge transition, as is all media,” Goodman says. “Public media is redefining itself and its mission, the role of broadcast communications, and the possibilities of digital connectivity. It has also become clear that there is a role for public media in this innovation economy for new kinds of noncommercial apps and other digital tools, in the same way that public broadcasting in the past provided a platform for video and audio innovation. We are also looking at what people want noncommercial space in mobile media to look like.”
The FCC’s final report will be released later this year.
A Merion, Pa. resident, Goodman teaches courses in property law, intellectual property, media law, and advertising law.
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Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
(856) 225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu