Please choose one (1) of the following questions to respond to, to be due by class time,  Wednesday night, 4/1/09.  
   
1.) Some critics are concerned about the increasing centralization of media ownership in fewer and fewer hands because they see a breakdown in the   "firewall" between profit-making and news reporting in corporations. (The clip from THE INSIDER gave an example of this happening with SIXTY MINUTES story about disclosures within Brown and Williamson, the tobacco company under investigation).   Do you see this as a serious problem or has it been exaggerated? Why or why not?  

2.) One of the central dilemmas of ensuring a democracy for media critics is how to reconcile the media's obligation to give the public the information it needs to make wise public policy choices and to hold political officials accountable with the media companies need to make a profit, especially given the public's preference for gossip and scandal rather than serious news. Recently, in a highly publicized interview, Jon Stewart of THE DAILY SHOW interviewed Joe Cramer of MAD MONEY and criticized him severely for not giving consumers that would watch his show real knowledge about how the financial system actually operates and for giving bad advice to listeners who may have believed him and lost money.
Some people argue that if the public chooses to watch light-weight shows, it is not the fault of producers who dumb down their shows to get the ratings. Others argue that if better, higher quality shows were presented, the public would learn to appreciate and value shows that 'make you think' and, in any case, the media is required to serve the public interest and so, should offer those shows even if only a few people actually watch them, anyway. Where do you place yourself in this debate? Why?

3.) In the current debate over improving our communication infrastructure and expanding broadband access to all citizens regardless of where they live, we have an interesting coalition of public interest groups working with business groups and civic groups to push for a comprehensive overhaul of our broadband capacity in order to enable e-commerce, e-government, and to make the united states competitive again in a global marketplace-(we're currently at 17, 18, or 24 in broadband access and quality, depending on what criteria is used).
One issue of dispute remains to what extent communication technology should remain in the hands of private businesses as a 'for fee' service or whether we should re-conceptualize access to broadband as a public utility which should be available to all citizens and therefore, supported by government funds. This division over public support or private service also extends to the debate over 'net neutrality' and access to broadband regardless of geographic location. Where do you place yourself in this argument? Why?