In response to FCC Chairman Wheeler’s announcement, the following can be attributed to Cheryl Leanza, policy advisor to UCC OC Inc.:

Broadband is essential for every aspect of modern life.  Today, even connections to our religious communities often takes place via broadband.  For all people to have equal opportunity, broadband must be affordable and Lifeline is the only way to make it happen.  Without affordable access, digital literacy will not increase, broadband adoption will not occur.  Affordable access is the linchpin.  I am pleased to see the FCC intends to take action next month.  More than 50 groups have come out supporting support for low-income people's need for affordable broadband.

*Originally posted at civilrights.org

The Lifeline program allows our nation’s most vulnerable communities to maintain telephone service that would otherwise be unaffordable – service that is essential for connecting with loved ones, searching for employment, pursuing further education goals, engaging fully as citizens, and calling 911. But arecent GAO report, commissioned by Sen. John Thune, R. S.D., to evaluate the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) reforms to the Lifeline program, quickly drew fire from some Republican leaders. They allege that the FCC should not work on expanding the program to broadband until it addresses points raised in the GAO report.

But to call to a halt the FCC’s planned reform efforts based on this report would be to ignore its findings.

GAO found that the FCC has fully implemented seven reforms designed to increase accountability and strengthen internal controls. The most important reform—the duplicates database, which ensures that participating telephone companies are not double dipping – has been fully implemented. About 2.2 million duplicate enrollees were eliminated between 2011 and 2013 under the FCC’s reforms, saving $260 million.

And while Lifeline’s critics have alleged that the increase in the size of the program over the last 10 years is evidence of fraud, GAO found that the large increases in Lifeline enrollment may well have been because of increases in poverty. GAO found that the number of Lifeline-eligible households increased by 15 percent between 2008 and 2012, from 35 million to 40 million. SNAP enrollment also increased 64 percent from 2008 to 2012.

GAO faults the FCC for not explicitly stating affordability of phone service as a goal of the Lifeline program. As the FCC has pointed out, voice service is only available to fixed-income and low-income consumers to the extent it is affordable. Phone service is essential to modern existence, so the real issues should be whether low-income households can afford service without undue hardship. If needed, the FCC can easily and quickly formally adopt affordability as a goal, which is already mandated by the Communications Act.

GAO also questions whether the FCC has conducted a full-scale social science study on the Lifeline program to determine whether – without this program – some eligible individuals would still actually subscribe to telephone services. Just because a household with limited means makes sacrifices elsewhere in their budget to pay for phone service does not mean it is affordable. Research that shows the value of Lifeline does exist – and the FCC has relied upon it.

Criticisms raised by GAO – and Republicans aiming to use the report to halt planned reforms – are largely wasted energy, because they are focusing on a program to increase telephone adoption. And while reliable telephone service continues to be a serious issue for many low-income people and people on tribal reservations, broadband adoption actually overtook voice service as the most important communications concern a long time ago.

The FCC is about to begin the next phase of reform to expand Lifeline into supporting broadband, which will give it ample opportunity to implement GAO recommendations where they make most sense.

The need for expansion is urgent. Increases in broadband adoption rate are slowing and, in fact, posted a decline for the lowest income households in 2013. Pew Research Center recently found that 5 million households with school-age children do not have high-speed Internet service at home, constituting 40 percent of families with children between 6 and 17 years. And nearly half of Americans who have Internet access, but rely on smartphones for access, have had to cancel their cell phone service because of financial hardship.

In March, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights urged the FCC to protect and modernize the Lifeline program by implementing this type of expansion. “As broadband rapidly replaces voice service as the basic communications tool for our era, the FCC should rapidly update Lifeline to match the times,” the letter states. “Increasing broadband adoption will improve the economic well-being of those populations as well as the economic competitiveness of our country as a whole.”

Cheryl Leanza is policy advisor for the United Church of Christ's media justice ministry and co-chair of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Media and Telecommunications Task Force.

Patrick McNeil, digital communications associate at The Leadership Conference, contributed to this post.

- See more at: http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2015/1526-lifeline-gao.html#sthash.1G3RRZrC.dpuf

Charles and Marjorie Benton with Rev. Jesse L. Jackson at the 2012 Parker Lecture Photo credit: Liz Roll

The United Church of Christ is mourning today's news that Charles Benton, chair and previous executive director of the Benton Foundation, passed away last evening.

"Charles has been a champion of the public interest in media and communications for so long, it will be difficult to imagine the space without him," said Cheryl Leanza, UCC OC Inc.'s policy advisor.  "Charles' passion for improving the lives of others was an essential part of who he was.  He never stopped looking for a way to press ahead."

"Charles was a great of example of using might for right," observed Earl Williams, Chair of OC Inc.  "We were so pleased to give him the Parker Award in 2012 as a tribute to his lifetime of work."

Leanza noted Charles' work included making provisions for the future of the Benton Foundation, "Even as he remained actively involved in media reform and communications rights, Charles was wise enough to put the Foundation in the capable hands of his daughter Adrianne Furniss, thus assuring the continued vibrancy of the Benton Foundation."

The prayers of the OC Inc. Board, staff, and volunteers are with Marjorie, Adrianne, and the rest of the Benton family and the Benton Foundation.

We, as organizations representing many diverse religious traditions, express our gratitude to the Federal Communications Commission for the strong net neutrality protections adopted in February and released last week.  These protections will assure Internet openness and are essential for the faith community to function and connect with our members, to protect and enhance the ability of vulnerable communities to use advanced technology, and to organize, advocate for justice or bear witness in the crowded media environment.

An open internet impacts all of us, not just the technology sector or sophisticated elites. All of us rely on the Internet every day. We are relieved that our communities will not be forced to pay fees to ensure that our high-bandwidth content receives fair treatment on the Internet: non-profit communities, both religious and secular, cannot afford to pay those tolls. Even more important, low-income people cannot afford the higher prices which would be passed on to them from commercial content providers paying for priority access. The Internet is an indispensable medium for people of faith – and others with principled values – to convey views on matters of public concern and religious teachings. As Chairman Wheeler explained before the vote, Net Neutrality is a guarantee of First Amendment protections on the Internet. We strongly support the FCC’s decision as responsive to our previous letter to the FCC, and oppose efforts to derail those protections either legislatively or in court.

• National Council of Churches USA
• Franciscan Action Network
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  
• The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
  
• United Church of Christ, OC Inc.

March 16, 2015

Rep. Jason Chaffetz
Chair of the House Oversight & Gov’t Reform
2157 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515


Rep. Elijah Cummings
Ranking Member of theHouse Oversight & Gov’t Reform
2157 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515


Dear Chairman Chaffetz and Ranking Member Cummings:

As racial justice and civil rights organizations, we write to express our support of the recent Federal Communications Commission decision to enact strong and enforceable Net Neutrality rules.

Our organizations are among the more than 100 racial justice and civil rights groups that have called on the FCC to pass strong Net Neutrality rules using its Title II authority. It is critical that the FCC have the legal authority to protect the online digital rights of communities that historically have been marginalized in our society. With such protections, our communities have been able to better participate in our democracy, tell our own stories, strive towards educational excellence and pursue economic success.

We are deeply troubled by Congressional efforts to overturn the Net Neutrality order and to strip the Commission of its legal authority to enforce its Net Neutrality protections under Title II of the Communications Act. This includes efforts to prevent the Commission from enforcing Net Neutrality by defunding the agency.

The Net Neutrality debate has centered on whether the Commission has the authority to enforce Net Neutrality rules that prevent Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or discriminating against online content. A federal court ruled last year that the Commission could not ban such online discrimination without reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II. Therefore, the FCC cannot protect Internet users from ISP practices such as blocking, throttling and other types of discriminatory conduct that could arise as the marketplace and technology evolves, without asserting its authority under Title II.

This is why more than four million people have called on the FCC to use its Title II authority to adopt strong and enforceable Net Neutrality rules over the past year.

Accordingly, we respectfully request that you join the millions of digital equality champions and support the FCC's historic decision, and reject any efforts to overturn or weaken the decision. You will be in good company, on the right side of public opinion and history.

Sincerely,

Alliance for a Just Society
Black Alliance for Just Immigration Black Lives Matter
Center for Community Change Center for Media Justice
Center for Popular Democracy
Center for Rural Strategies
Center for Social Inclusion ColorOfChange.org
Community Justice Network for Youth Demos
Dream Defenders
18 Million Rising
Ella Baker Center
Forward Together
Free Press
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Latino Rebels
Media Action Grassroots Network
Mexican American Opportunity Foundation
Million Hoodies Movement for Justice
Movement Strategy Center
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) National Association of Hispanic Journalists
National Association of Latino Independent Producers National Economic & Social Rights Initiative
National Guestworker Alliance
National Hispanic Media Coalition
National Institute for Latino Policy
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
National People's Action
News Taco
Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say
Our Walmart
Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
Presente.org
Radio Bilingüe
Race Forward
Right to the City Alliance
Roosevelt Institute Campus Network
The Librotraficante Movement
The Praxis Project
United Church of Christ, OC Inc.
United We Dream
Voices for Internet Freedom

Working on social justice always involves steps forward and steps back. Even as last week we celebrated a step forward in communications policy, today we are pushed forcefully back. Today's 2 and a half page ruling by the Federal Communications Commission to reject two 10-year old petitions consisting of hundreds of pages by the United Church of Christ's media justice ministry and its partners are as deaf to the public interest and the Commission's role as any rulings under any administration. 

At the same time that Chairman Wheeler stood up to special interests in the Net Neutrality vote last week, the FCC's media bureau--which ultimately reports to the Chairman's office--was busy taking dictation from the broadcast lobby.  The losers are children who rely on broadcast TV—which is a lot of low income families and households of color.

These complaints were part of a series of complaints filed in 2004 and 2005. These complaints were designed to give the FCC a chance to issue rulings that would clarify that some of the most egregious violations of the Children's Television Act were out of bounds. We challenged soap operas posing as educational television for Spanish-speaking children. We challenged programming filled with advertisements for Medigap insurance and incontinence products as clearly not directed to children. We challenged programming described by our expert analysts as "among the most violent children’s shows … seen in … 20 years of studying children’s television" as insufficient to meet the children's educational obligations of broadcasters. 

While those petitions took immense resources and involvement from churches and communities all around the country, these examples were selected because they were egregious and obvious violations of law. In 2007 the Bush FCC fined Univision $24 million dollars--at the time the largest FCC fine ever levied--based on one of the petition about the now-infamous Complices al Rescate soap opera. Eight years ago, the pending NBC acquisition forced the FCC to take the petition seriously. Today, we have no merger to focus attention on broadcasters, and this order is released on Wheeler's watch when attention is focused elsewhere.

In the distant future, the business of television might well exclude any reliance on FCC licenses. But that time is not now. As we explained recently in a letter to the FCC asking them to take up this issue, the nearly 100 million US households that don’t subscribe to broadband are more likely to depend on broadcast TV for educational shows and, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, minorities currently make up 41% of broadcast-only homes. For the children in these households, educational programming at home comes from broadcast TV. 

And today the FCC's action told these children that no one is willing to look out for them.

This post was written by OC Inc. Policy Advisor Cheryl Leanza and was originally posted on the Patheos Blog.

I am so grateful to Kimberly for offering a chance to guest blog here. As I am sure many of you do, I admire Kimberly’s writing so much — she brings the real struggle that we all experience to life in her posts — giving me energy to face my own struggles. I work for the UCC’s media justice ministry, and for me Kimberly’s work is such a great example of how the online world is as much a real community as any community I have in person. Today is a great day for me to post because this week is an important week for the Internet – the Federal Communications Commission is voting on the future of the Internet this week, and we expect Congress to get involved right after.

Through the Internet, many people find community with other people who believe the same things they do, validation at times when we’re in desperate need of support. We can find God in the electrons when we come together looking for human connection. Kimberly’s example is one of the important reasons why the UCC’s media justice ministry, OC Inc., has placed such a high priority on fighting for net neutrality, and why we co-founded Faithful Internet. The Internet creates human connection in miraculous ways that were not possible only a few years ago, and I firmly believe that as we move into more and more online spaces that mimic close interpersonal connections, more and more people will find meaning and relationships with each other and their faith communities.

Great examples abound. I know Kimberly started some of her online ministry insecond life, and I was just enjoying a great blog post interviewing Becca Kelstrom, who is a real life pastor, but also helps run a UCC church in second life today about how she welcomes and offers support to visitors in second life. And in the last year the United Church of Christ created Extravagance UCC, an online congregation, designed to reach people that don’t attend a traditional church. One of the driving reasons behind Extravagance is the UCC’s deeply held belief that we want to welcome all people to our community — Jesus taught to welcome everyone — and the UCC has been a leader in demonstrating we believe that the LGBTQ community is as welcome and blessed in God’s eyes as anyone. And yet, many people who we hope could find a home with us may have had many bad experiences in brick and mortar churches in the past. Perhaps, an online community could be a door that would be easier to enter for someone with years of hurt and anxiety about his or her sexual orientation and religion.

But to create a truly intimate and connected online space –where people can meet each other and the technology falls away, where the connection between people supersedes the technology used to connect–we’re going to need to use the most modern platforms. Today, participants connect in Extravagance using zoom online video chats. As it expands, it is my d

ream Extravagance will connect using more and more advanced video and high-intensity technology. As a church venturing down this path, that a few others have trod successfully ahead of us–folks like Darkwood Brew and the Unitarian’s Church of the Larger Fellowship, the UCC is marshalling all of our scarce resources to develop worship, master technology, find the people who would find meaning and friendship in our community. While we know we have to compete with the myriad other things in people’s lives, from their busy schedules to their fears to the doubts, so far, however, we’ve been able to rest assured that if someone wants to join us on Sunday nights for online video bible study–they can as long as they have a computer and a broadband connection.

Like so many efforts at building community, we are reliant on the world around us, structures and decisions beyond our own efforts can put in front of us impenetrable walls. As so many Christians who are called to social justice–who look beyond the immediate needs of today to the structural barriers that result in inequity, poverty, fear, isolation. In our case, we’re reliant on an Internet that treats everyone equally — if someone wants to view our video feed, they can. Content from NBC or Amazon or Netflix rides on the same wires and is treated the same way as Extravagance Bible study. But as some of you have heard in this space before, technology policy is invading our utopian dream of an online space where all can meet as equals communing with each other and God. Because there is a danger that, in Washington DC, the law of the land could explicitly permit the big content folks to pay to be at the front of the line on the Internet.

Imagine, someone who is fearful, they haven’t been to church in years despite feeling the call to participate in a worship community, they think, “Well, maybe these Extravagance people could be OK, I’ll check them out.” The time for a service arrives, they log in, and — that little buffering circle of death is all they see. She’s waiting, and while waiting she starts to surf around on her phone — hey,Transparent comes through right away! “I can watch that show right now, and I’m already 10 minutes late for worship — I don’t want to start in the middle, maybe I’ll connect with God another day.” Or maybe that person does connect, but at the critical moment in the sermon, or a soaring sacred song–the spinning wheel pops up.

The moment is gone, community falls away and we’re left with a blank screen. Imagine that happening, not once in a while– but Every. Single. Time. Why? Because the big companies have deep pockets and they can pay big bucks to send their content faster, right away. The rest of us have to wait. God is lost to buffering.

Maybe you’ve never heard of “net neutrality” or maybe it’s old news. But net neutrality is the nick-name for a policy that will stop my nightmare scenario and protect all Internet content — make sure that everyone is treated fairly online. Net neutrality might sound like a far-away issue for nerds and big companies. But it’s not, and it’s not even only a concern for those of us creating faith communities online. The Internet is essential these days, whether it is a web site telling people when service starts on Sunday or a Mosque letting people know that a neighbor is ill and needs a hand, whether it’s a pastor demonstrating the vitality and humanity of young African Americans in her neighborhood in response to Ferguson, or Birth Justice doulas helping women deliver babies in prison. Research shows that increasing load times by as little as 100 millisecondssignificantly reduces the amount of time people spend on a site. A small delay means a big problem.

This is why I’m so proud of our work to demonstrate the importance of net neutrality to everyone and to work for the UCC’s media justice ministry and ourFaithful Internet project. I’m so grateful Kimberly let me share this story today, and for her earlier blog on this topic. At Faithful Internet we’re sponsoring aGroundswell petition and collecting testimonials of the many ways that the faith community uses the Internet, from online justice actions to sermons via podcast, from connecting with our pastors to talking with teens.

Please, visit Faithful Internet to explain how you use the Internet — perhaps you read blogs on Patheos?– so that our leaders in Congress know that all of us are counting on full, real, net neutrality. The FCC adopted great rules today, but the newly conservative Congress is already making plans to block it. Our political leaders need to know that this will affect all of us.

This morning, government officials gathered in DC to vote on the future of the Internet.
 
The astonishing news: WE WON.
 
Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to reclassify the Internet as a public utility, as essential as water and electricity, and adopted strong protections to keep the Internet open and free for this and future generations.
 
One year ago, today’s victory today was unimaginable. We were up against powerful forces that wanted the power to block and slow down sites and create fast lanes for those who could pay—and slow lanes for the rest of us. It didn’t seem like every day Americans had a chance. But millions of us stood up and spoke out: entrepreneurs, educators, artists, activists, and people of many faiths and moral backgrounds.
 
Against all odds, millions of Americans of all faiths and backgrounds fought for our future—a future that preserves the Internet as a space where all our voices can be heard, regardless of income, race, religion, or status. A future where all children and families have the right to learn, connect, innovate, and organize online. A future where we can keep striving to make this world a more just and beautiful place using all the tools available.
 
Today is not only a political victory but a moral victory for millions of Americans, including all of us who participated in the Faithful Internet campaign. Thank you for clicking, recording videos, and writing testimonials. Thank you to the FCC Chairman, Commissioners and staff who listened to the groundswell.
 
How should we celebrate? Online of course.
 
Please like and share this photo with the hashtag #faithfulnet.

UCC OC Inc., Center for Media Justice and MAGNet teamed up with religious organizations, civil rights groups, labor and many others to submit a letter today supporting further reforms to end predatory prison phone rates.  The letter supported the FCC's proposal to end "kick-back" payments, known as commissions from phone companies to prisons, jails and detention centers.  The letter also urged the FCC to cap local rates and to block unfair fees, to build on the FCC's historic decision to cap long-distance rates in 2014.  We also urged the FCC to take rapid action to protect people with disabilities, and to investigate unscrupulous rates for email and video visitation.  Learn more about prison phone rates on our web page. 

If you have a personal story about prison phone rates, share it with the FCC on this website created by the Prison Phone Justice Campaign.  More information about the new FCC proceeding is available in the flyer prepared by the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net).

Today the FCC took action which might be a modest harbinger of better news on this front in the future.  The FCC approved a number of transactions which will add new broadcast owners of color and women.  Setting aside the details of each transaction, it is important to note, as Chairman Wheeler and Commissioner Clyburn did today, that this welcome increase in African American, Asian American and women owners comes as a direct result of the FCC's decision to start enforcing the ownership rules already on the books.  Last spring the FCC recognized that so-called "sidecar" or Joint Sales Agreements (JSAs) between stations take advantage of a legal loopholes to achieve concentration in excess of ownership limits. 

This is a great example showing how the FCC's media ownership rules are an important way that the FCC can ensure we have a diverse media.  The stations transfers approved today took place because, once the loophole was closed, the existing owners were not permitted to keep stations in violation of the FCC's rules.  If the FCC's rules had been enforced as they should have been for the last 15 years, perhaps our media ownership numbers would not be as dismal as they are now.

The FCC can repeat this success in its currently pending 2014 Quadrennial Review of ownership rules, but only if it takes action now.  While the FCC closed the loophole of JSAs (which stations use to jointly sell advertising), many other similar ownership arrangements continue under the moniker of "SSAs" or Shared Services Agreements.  Not only are these agreements similar to JSAs in their ability to evade compliance with the FCC's ownership rules, but they strike at the heart of the FCC's core goals because they enable televisions stations to consolidate news operations.   In several important markets in our country--for example in Honolulu--viewers see the same newscast on three separate TV stations.  This not only limits multiple newscasts to one viewpoint, but eliminates jobs for reporters.  These agreements are also problematic because they create "financial dependency," as Wheeler and Clyburn put it, on the part of putative owners, depriving those dependent owners of capital and wealth.

SSAs are clothed in secrecy, because unlike JSAs, broadcasters are not required to disclose their terms to either the FCC or the public.  The FCC missed an important opportunity last spring when it could have required these agreements to come under scrutiny.  If the FCC wants to see more deals like the ones it approved today, it needs to require SSA disclosure in the first half of 2015--so there is enough time to analyze these agreements and adopt rules eliminating the remaining loopholes as part of the pending review.   

Evan as national events confirm once again, that, yes, race does matter in how we perceive so many important aspects of daily life and public policy, we see a glimmer of hope that the people with insight into the needs of communities who have so long been closed out of the mass media might have a chance to shape local news in some places in the years to come.