The Media Access Project (or MAP) was a non-profit group that promoted the public's interest before Congress and the US court system. MAP grew out of a 1960s lawsuit against the United Church of Christ and was eventually formed in 1972 in order to advance the rights of the public wanting to participate in the democratic process. Some of their first cases involved two TV stations in Mississippi not catering to the African American Community, resulting in the stations almost being shut down. From that era and cases came the thought "that members of the viewing and listening public have the legal right, derived from the First Amendment, to participate in FCC proceedings." Their most common way of fighting cases was through lobbying. The group suspended operations on May 1, 2012.
Issues addressed
Comcast NBC-Universal deal
On January 18, 2011, cable and internet giant Comcast acquired NBC Universal in a blockbuster deal. At the time, Comcast was the largest distributor of video services in the United States. The FCC voted in favor of it by a 4-1 count. The deal gave Comcast a 51% ownership of NBC Universal, and "For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies". There was some concern about media consolidation, as expressed by Michael J. Copps, commissioner of the FCC. "Every citizen has a stake here,” given the size of the combined entity. “The lodestar for this review must be the public interest". The Media Access Project is concerned that the terms of the deal prevent competition, and could result in price gouging due to fewer media sources. Critics fear that "Comcast will act as a gatekeeper by limiting the ability of independent voices to get a slot on cable distribution systems, or by withholding NBC-Universal content from other platforms and providers".
Media ownership
The issue revolves around the idea that those who control the media control what information people do and don't have access to. According to Free Press, "these massive conglomerates — like General Electric, Time Warner and News Corporation — only care about the bottom line, not serving the public interest. And allowing these few firms too much control over the flow of news and information is dangerous for our democracy".
In 2003, the Media Access Project's lawyers filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals, trying to nullify the FCC's media ownership rules that were going to take effect. The case was filed on behalf of Prometheus Radio Project of Philadelphia and the Media Access Project wanted to prevent the new media ownership rules until the judicial review was completed. The court ended up siding with the Media Access Project and struck down the FCC's new media ownership regulations.
On March 23, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals lifted a ban that had prevented media companies from owning both a TV station and newspaper in the same region, or market.
Part of the media ownership debate includes that of media concentration. Media concentration is when a large amount of media outlets are owned by a small number of companies. According to the MAP website, media concentration not only limits diversity, but also "threatens an outlet’s accountability to local communities, since big companies are often unfamiliar with a community’s specific needs." In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration started deregulating the media and broadcasting industries, which led to increased consolidation. Media Access Project Director Andrew Schwartzman commented that "deregulation has brought a new breed of broadcaster to whom public service matters less."
Net neutrality
One of the larger issues that Media Access Project concerned itself with was the concept of Net Neutrality. For MAP the main focus with net neutrality was urging the FCC to ensure that network operators do not block or slow down the transmission of certain types of online content. One of the bigger cases that lead to current net neutrality rules was in 2007 when internet service provider Comcast was caught directly manipulating or blocking their subscriber's access to the popular file sharing service BitTorrent. MAP filed a petition with the FCC stating that Comcast had violated several of the agencies policies.