Adjusting the Kaleidoscope: The Net, the Public, the Media

• In Event: How Media Cover Media Policy: Understanding Media Policy Bias and Media Policy Silence

Abstract

Net neutrality, a contemporary media policy topic, has managed to galvanize public opinion in unparalleled ways. The FCC received an unparalleled number of public comments about it. The media role in the framing net neutrality, including the public comment process, has taken some unique twists, particularly insofar as numerous Internet sites mobilized their constituencies. This paper investigates the representations of net neutrality by comparing traditional, agenda-setting print platforms (e.g., NYT and WSJ) to prominent online sites and TV programs in terms of their framing of the issue. We pay particular attention to the portrayal of the public comment process, and how the clear significance of this subject to a broad public has been interpreted and even buttressed by media figures. The integration of US telecom and media industries and their relationships with the policy arena makes this an especially complicated situation of competing interests.

Authors

• Sharon Strover, U of Texas - Austin

• Karen E. Gustafson, U of Texas - Austin

• Alexis Schrubbe, U of Texas - Austin