Pickard, Victor

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  • Publication
    Media Failures in the Age of Trump
    (2016-01-01) Pickard, Victor
  • Publication
    The Strange Life and Death of the Fairness Doctrine: Tracing the Decline of Positive Freedoms in American Policy Discourse
    (2018-01-01) Pickard, Victor
    The Fairness Doctrine, one of the most famous and controversial media policies ever enacted, suffered a final deathblow in August 2011 when the Federal Communications Commission permanently struck it from the books. However, the Doctrine continues to be invoked by proponents and detractors alike. Using mixed methods, this study historically contextualizes the Fairness Doctrine while drawing attention to how it figures within contemporary regulatory debates. By tracing over time the shifting ideologies and discourses surrounding the Fairness Doctrine, we can see how political conflict shapes the normative foundations of core media policies, especially those involving positive freedoms.
  • Publication
    What Is Bottom-Up About Global Internet Governance?
    (2005-12-01) McLaughlin, Lisa; Pickard, Victor
    This article maintains that the price for inclusion in the World Summit on the Information Society – which finally has been achieved through the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) – has been the erosion of an oppositional civil society within the summit itself. Specifically, it evaluates the development of the WGIG as a manifestation of global neo-corporatism. In doing so, the article addresses recurrent patterns within neo-corporatist policy concertation that is oriented toward satisfying neoliberal economic imperatives. The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of processes by which the diversity of interest representation that was characteristic of the first phase of the WSIS has become condensed into one agenda item focused on internet governance.
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    The Battle Over the FCC Blue Book: Determining the Role of Broadcast Media in a Democratic Society, 1945–8
    (2011-03-01) Pickard, Victor
    During the 1940s a media reform movement of grassroots activists and a progressive Federal Communication Commission (FCC) emerged to challenge the commercial interests consolidating control of US media. A key initiative born out of this movement was the so-called Blue Book, a high-water mark for FCC progressive activism that mandated social responsibility obligations for broadcasters in return for their use of the public airwaves. Ultimately, red-baiting tactics defeated the policy initiatives outlined in the Blue Book and the media reform movement was largely contained. The following analysis draws from archival materials to illuminate the resulting arrangement for US broadcasters.
  • Publication
    Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy
    (2009-01-01) Pickard, Victor; Stearns, Josh; Aaron, Craig
  • Publication
    Media Policy Research and Practice: Insights and Interventions - Introduction
    (2017-01-01) Popiel, Pawel; Pickard, Victor; Lloyd, Mark
    The question of impact looms over media policy scholarship. Despite engaging similar issues, media policy makers and communication scholars often diverge in defining the scope of the problems they address, with the former group largely guided by economic and legal analysis and influenced by partisan ideologies and political obligations. In the introductory essay for this Special Section, we highlight the value of communication scholars’ contributions to policy debates, particularly given their broader analytical frame and critical focus. Against this backdrop, we situate the Consortium on Media Policy Studies (COMPASS) program, which is designed to immerse students of communication policy in the policy-making processes to inform their research. As the contributions to this Special Section illustrate, this nexus of communication scholarship and policy-making practice yields important insights and interventions, shedding light on the most pressing policy issues we face today.
  • Publication
    Communication in Action: Bridging Research and Policy - Introduction
    (2015-01-01) Smith, Jason A; Lloyd, Mark; Pickard, Victor
  • Publication
    Revitalizing the Public Airwaves: Opportunistic Unlicensed Reuse of Government Spectrum
    (2009-01-01) Pickard, Victor; Meinrath, Sascha
    While many policy analysts have focused on the fate of the 700 MHz auctions, the digital TV transition, and the promise of white space devices, a more vast and underutilized resource has gone largely unnoticed: government spectrum. The best available data suggests that the majority of federal spectrum capacity is left unused. Strategic reuse of this spectrum could help obviate the need for significant additional reallocation while enabling a wide range of creative new uses and social benefits. Based on what little information is publicly available, it is reasonable to assume that the repurposing of government spectrum would go far in addressing a number of access-related communication problems. Repurposing currently unused U.S. government-controlled spectrum for opportunistic unlicensed use would benefit society by dramatically expanding access to high-speed broadband and increasing the pace of wireless technology innovation. This approach to spectrum policy presents a “third option” for reform, drawing from both the commons and property rights models of spectrum management.
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