NYC
NEW YORK COMMUNITY MEDIA ALLIANCE
Who we are:
‘New York Community Media Alliance (NYCMA), originally founded in New York City
as IPA-New York, in April 2000, is the only nonprofit organization created with the sole
purpose of strengthening the immigrant and community press, and recognizing the
critical role it plays in organizing, advocating and promoting civic engagement in their
communities. Our mission is to promote social justice through media reform.
The print portion of this media sector consists of 325 community and ethnic weeklies and
26 foreign-language dailies, reaching a readership of well over 3.5 million. These
periodicals make their way into most homes in the communities they serve, which
currently make up 40 percent of New York City’s population.
Additionally, according to exit polls conducted by Bamard College, Columbia
University, City University of New York and the NY Immigration Coalition, during the
midterm elections in 2006 ~ the most recent of six years of polling - two-thirds of all
first-time voters were foreign born; 360,000 new immigrant voters participated in the last
three elections; and nearly 30 percent of the N.Y. electorate is foreign born. ‘These
statistics point to a robust interest in civic participation.
Program
With foundation support, NYCMA developed the Grassroots Media Project (GMP), a
sophisticated cluster of programs to encourage informed public participation in low
income and working-class communities, communities of color, and immigrant
communities where English is not the primary language — communities not well served
by the mainstream media. The GMP also works to project news and analyses from these
communities beyond the confines of ethnicity and the boundaries of their traditional
neighborhoods.
Programs include:
1. The Ethnic and Community Press Fellowship, a 10-month program offering journalists
‘training to strengthen investigative reporting skills, networking opportunities with city
and advocacy leaders for a more in-depth understanding of the issues, and help to expand
their pool of resources.Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,
‘Thanks for invitation to speak about the importance of involving the ethnic and
community media in the discussion on the importance of net neutrality. My name is
Jehangir Khattak. I am the Communications manager at the New York Community
‘Media Alliance. NYCMA is a non-profit organization that works for the promotion of the
ethnic and community media in New York and New Jersey. As you all know NYC is
home to over 3.5 million immigrants, about 1.8 million of whom either have limited or no
knowledge of English and thus their primary source of information is ethnic and
community media in their own languages. This is one of the reasons for the mushroom
growth of this media sector in this part of the country and today there are over 350 ethnic
and community publications that come out of New York. These include 26 foreign-
language dailies. Thus print and electronic media are also an integral part of their lives ~
and in certain cases may be more important to them than to the average American,
especially in case of those communities with low English literacy and no community
media here and who have to access the internet to read news related to the countries of
their origin,
We at the NYCMA are work
1g Very closely with this media sector to catch up
with the emerging technology curve in the information sector. We have been organi
ig
training sessions for more efficient use of web based tools for reporting and encouraging
publications of this media sector to better organize their web presence. We believe that
network neutrality demands open and free Internet that fosters competition and
innovation; and gives people access to the content and services of their choice. However,
even the bigger issue is awareness amongst the communities about the subject. The FCC
and the advocacy groups have largely failed in connecting with these communities on the
subject. The level of understanding about the issue of network neutrality amongst
immigrant and minority communities is far below the mark. That's why, the subject has
not been focus of much editorial debate in this media sector. There are social justice
implications for these communities as well when they cannot connect the dots between
their realities and access to the Intemet. For example what does it mean if popular Skype
is no longer available for low cost? And what does it mean for students who lack Internetaccess and their academic success? Also what does it mean if news from the home
country can only be accessed through the Internet and it is no longer available because it
is no longer affordable to go online? These are not simple questions. These are
possibi
ities which will adversely impact the communities if net neutrality vanishes. The
media which these communities use as their news source
largely equally ignorant about
the subject or is unknowingly failing to connect the dots that could lead to a broader
understanding of the issue of network neutrality in their communities. Many of the media
outlets might desire to highlight the issue but lack of understanding is one key hurdle in
their way.
We at NYCMA have j
discussions about the future of information and communications technology. We are
ined efforts to engage the ethnic press in critical
working on organizing a one-day forum on media policy in March 2010, It will
essentially focus on network neutrality as well. We are working closely with two leading
media policy organizations, the People’s Production House and Free Press in this
connection. We held the first preparatory focus group meeting for the forum on October
15 which was attended by senior journalists from different ethnic and community
publications and television channel. We found at this meeting that the level of
understanding of the issue of net neutrality was very low amongst the participants. For
example, participants from Asian newspapers estimated that 90% of their readership uses
the internet, while others gave estimates of 50-60%. Though an overwhelming majority
of the ethnic and community media has online presence, a majority has little idea of how
net neutrality can benefit them and their communities. We feel that internet should offer a
level field for usage to every body. Net Neutrality is the beginning of a larger
conversation on the future of the Internet. The larger goal is affordable and open Internet
access for everyone, everywhere. Net neutrality ensures the freedom of speech and
creativity that have made the Intemet such a powerful tool for democracy and innovation.
Net neutrality recognizes that the Internet is an essential infrastructure for economic,
social and political activity and not just a private commodity to be controlled by
corporations. That’s why we not just support the calls for new FCC regulations to break
the monopoly of a few companies but also want more serious efforts to create greater
understanding of the issue of net neutrality. We appreciate the City Council’s resolutioncalling for new FCC regulations for more open intemet access. We support the Council's
Res. No. 712 — A; which calls on the FCC to codify strong network neutrality principles
in order to ensure that the Internet will continue to foster innovation, increase competition,
and spur economic growth as well as making the Internet faster and more affordable for
all. We feel that net neutrality is the benchmark for free flow of information and must be
protected.
1 thank you for your time and attention