FFR: Sustaining democracy in a digital age

A powerful new report out by the Knight Commission on the information needs of communities.

Here are the conclusions and recommendations of the report, because even in this shorthand version, I want people to know what is being recommended!

A. Maximizing the Availability of Relevant and Credible Information. People need relevant and credible information to be free and self-governing. The Commission concludes:

• The current financial challenges facing private news media could pose a crisis for democracy.
• Public media should provide better local news and information.
• Not-for-profit and non-traditional media can be important sources of journalism.
• Public information belongs to the public. Government must be more open.
• Informed communities can measure their information health.

The Commission recommends:

• Recommendation 1: Direct media policy toward innovation,competition, and support for business models that providemarketplace incentives for quality journalism.
• Recommendation 2: Increase support for public servicemedia aimed at meeting community information needs.
• Recommendation 3: Increase the role of higher education,community and nonprofit institutions as hubs of journalisticactivity and other information-sharing for local communities.
• Recommendation 4: Require government at all levels to operate transparently, facilitate easy and low-cost access to public records, and make civic and social data available in standardized formats that support the productive public use of such data.
• Recommendation 5: Develop systematic quality measures of community information ecologies, and study how they affect social outcomes.

B. Enhancing the Information Capacity of Individuals: People need tools, skills, and understanding to use information effectively. The Commission concludes:

• All people have a right to be fully informed.
• There need be no second-class citizens in informed communities.
• Funding to meet this goal is an investment in the nation’s future.
• Americans cannot compete globally without new public policies and investment in technology.

The Commission recommends:

• Recommendation 6: Integrate digital and media literacy ascritical elements for education at all levels through collaboration among federal, state, and local education officials.
• Recommendation 7: Fund and support public libraries and other community institutions as centers of digital and media training, especially for adults.
• Recommendation 8: Set ambitious standards for nationwide broadband availability and adopt public policiesencouraging consumer demand for broadband services.
• Recommendation 9: Maintain the national commitmentto open networks as a core objective of Internet policy.
• Recommendation 10: Support the activities of informationproviders to reach local audiences with quality content through all appropriate media, such as mobile phones, radio, public access cable, and new platforms.

C. Promoting Public Engagement: To pursue their true interests, people need to be engaged with information and with each other.

The Commission concludes:

• Creating informed communities is a task for everyone.
• Young people have a special role in times of great change.
• Technology can help everyone be part of the community.
• Everyone should feel a responsibility to participate.

The Commission recommends:

• Recommendation 11: Expand local media initiatives to reflect the full reality of the communities they represent.
• Recommendation 12: Engage young people in developing the digital information and communication capacities of local communities.
• Recommendation 13: Empower all citizens to participate actively in community self-governance, including local “community summits” to address community affairs and pursue common goals.
• Recommendation 14: Emphasize community information flow in the design and enhancement of a local community’s public spaces.
• Recommendation 15: Ensure that every local communityhas at least one high-quality online hub.