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Betty Yu: Roots, Radio and Social Change: Why Low Power FM Radio is about YOU

Media watchdog group Free Press’s recent infographic reveals how media corporations are using shell companies to evade the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ownership rules and gobble up local TV stations across the US. It’s another sobering reminder that we are facing some of the biggest threats to media democracy and free speech in our country’s history. Theacceleration of media consolidation and unfair restrictions on community radio and TV have narrowed already limited access to the airwaves for local voices, especially women and communities of color. People of color make up over 36 percent of the US population, but own just over seven percent of radio licenses and three percent of TV licenses.

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Stop Watching Us!

Dear MAG-Net Community, Have you been concerned about how you and your community can stand up to egregious invasions of our privacy -- on our cell phones, internet services, and other vital tools we use to communicate? Read below and join a huge coalition organizing a powerful response to fight back.

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Joseph Torres: Keep Vulnerable Communities Connected

More than 80 groups representing a coalition of public interest, civil rights, faith-based, media justice and community organizations sent a letter urging the House and Senate Commerce Committees to continue their support of the government’s Lifeline program, which subsidizes basic phone service for low-income individuals.

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Fabiola Carrion: MAG-Net Joins over 200 Organizations from Around the World in an Effort to Stop Surveillance

In the wake of ongoing surveillance revelations, the Media Action Grassroots Network joins hundreds of organizations from around the world that signed onto the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance. With its endorsement, MAG-Net takes a stance towards halting practices that threaten communities of color and other vulnerable groups who are subject to targeted surveillance by law enforcement and national security agents.

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Q&A with May First/People Link Co-Director and Internet activist Alfredo Lopez.

In 1995, People Link started as a project of the Institute for Mass Communication, hosting web sites, setting up email accounts and providing a forum for activists to communicate all across the country. Four years later, in 1999 May First Technology Collective began as a worker run collective providing technical support to nonprofits in New York City. The two came together in 2005 and from there May First/People Link was born. Since then MF/PL has redefined the concept of "Internet Hosting Service" in a collective, progressive and collaborative way. We were fortunate to hear from MF/PL Co-Director and Internet activist Alfredo Lopez. Scroll down to see what he has to say about Internet freedom, MAG-Net and collaborating across borders.

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#CallAccepted: FCC Finally Answers the Call for Prison #PhoneJustice

 "There is one number that simply haunts me—perhaps because I am a parent. Across the country, 2.7 million children have at least one parent in prison. That is 2.7 million children who do not know what it means to talk regularly with their mother or father." Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission On Friday, August 9th, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took a major leap forward on behalf of those 2.7 million children by voting 2-1 in favor of reforming the prison phone industry and ending the price-gouging of families who accept calls from their incarcerated loved ones. Cheers could be heard from the people present at the vote, including families of prisoners, advocates and allies.  Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn - who has led the fight on the inside for prison phone justice- was visibly chocked up she paraphrased a Sam Cooke song, saying "it's been a long time coming, but change has come."

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Clarissa Ramon: After 10 Years, the FCC Upholds Just and Reasonable Action on Prison Phones

Today, the Federal Communications Commission approved a framework that mandates just and reasonable telephone rates for the friends, family and counsel of inmates in state prisons and detention centers. The order provides immediate financial relief to the households of the 2.7 million children with a parent behind bars who struggled with the cost of communicating with them. Public Knowledge commends FCC leadership for its action and congratulates the many advocates both in and outside the beltway for their dedicated efforts.

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Carlos Pareja: Justice For Trayvon Martin Rally & March in New York City

On Sunday, July 14th, New Yorkers gathered in Union Square to express their outrage for the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Although many were not surprised by the court's decision, the pain of another black life lost and the failure of the judicial system to bring justice still weighed heavy in many people's hearts.

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Vina Kay: No More Trayvons, No More Georges

Trayvon Martin is dead and George Zimmerman is a free man. Trayvon could have been our president’s son, but also the son of any of our black and brown family and friends. George Zimmerman, too, could be our child, especially in a world where law and public opinion support his thinking and actions. These are the laws that support a system of structural racism, where the effect of our policies and institutional practices go unquestioned, even when they have a disproportionately negative effect on people of color. This is a public swimming in the implicit bias that allows justification of fear and violence.