With its back-to-back denunciation of Net Neutrality and its launch of Hulu as its anointed site for streaming TV, films, and video, Big Media's goal is nothing less than to turn today's wide open Internet into a closed system more akin to cable television. The likely result: as we've documented in cable, independent and diverse voices and their content will be inexorably marginalized or silenced.

To prevent this Big Media alliance with Big Cable/Telco from cornering and controlling the Internet, it is time for the government to implement reasonable network neutrality oversight that protects consumers and content creators, and preserves the open Internet we enjoy today.  Listen to Stevie Converse of Free Press interview Jonathan Rintels of Creative Voices on Media Minutes.

Jonathan Rintels, executive director, Creative Voices, talks about censorship, the FCC, consolidated media, the telco/cable duopoly, and about the need for universal and true high-speed broadband access. Interview recorded October 15, 2007 by Marc Strassman, Etopia News Channel.

Jonathan Rintels, Center for Creative Voices in Media, and Tim Winters, Parents' Television Council, discuss the upcoming FCC Report on Media Violence C-SPAN in separate 15 minute interviews.  Audio is on attached podcast.  To view the C-SPAN video, click here.

Creative Voices Executive Director Jonathan Rintels discusses "Net Neutrality," and why it is in the interests of not only creative media artists, but the American public.  Interviewed by Marc Strassman of the Online Broadcasting Service.

Interview is on Brightcove, link here.

Jonathan Rintels of Creative Voices joins host Coy Barefoot on WINA-AM 1070, Charlottesville Right Now to talk about his organization, and the latest news on fines levied by the Federal Communications Commission on Fox, CBS and other networks for broadcasting "indecent" material transmitted during various awards shows.

Jon Rintels is the executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, a watchdog which advocates for the freedom of writers to produce intelligent programming. He joins Coy Barefoot on WINA’s Charlottesville–Right Now on December 4, 2006 to discuss how consolidation of media outlets create a situation where O.J. Simpson can be lured into doing a prime-time special. Also, what happened to the Dixie Chicks after 9/11, and the importance of creating local content.

Jon Rintels is the executive director and the founder of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, a group that advocates against media consolidation and censorship. Rintels is a former attorney and award-winning screenwriter who says media conglomeration of the last several years is having a negative impact on those who write for television and film.

“All of this is based on our strong belief in free speech and free expression,� says Rintels. “Overregulation of the airwaves to protect children from so-called indecent content has backfired.�

On the October 20, 2006 edition of WINA’s Charlottesville–Right Now, he told host Coy Barefoot that local news suffers when corporations buy up several radio stations in a community. Rintels also commended WINA for its commitment to local news after Rob Graham broke in with a news report live from the scene.

Creative Voices Exec Director Jonathan Rintels debated whether to expand the FCC's power to regulate what all Americans see on television from beyond "indecency" to so-called "violent" or "graphic" content.  The debate took place on CNBC network on February 21, 2007, and included a representative of the Parents Television Council, one of the pressure groups calling for more government censorship of television.

Jonathan Rintels, Exec Director of Creative Voices, debated whether Congress should expand the FCC's power to include censoring and controlling "violent" or "graphic" programming on television with a representative of the Parents Television Council on CNBC network, February 21, 2007.  The PTC is one of the foremost conservative pressure groups urging more censorship of media. 

The VIDEO of the CNBC interview is now available at http://creativevoices.typepad.com/JRCNBC022107.wmv

As the Federal Communications Commission considers broadcasters’ appeals of several recent indecency decisions, the Center for Creative Voices in Media today released a new report that argues those decisions stifle free expression, threaten quality television, and harm America’s children.

Martin Scorsese’s The Blues: Godfathers and Sons and Steven Bochco’s NYPD Blue – these are great television programs that the FCC has already judged indecent. Ken Burns’s upcoming PBS documentary on World War II The War, CBS’s 9/11 documentary, the classic Civil Rights Movement documentary Eyes on the Prize, Masterpiece Theater, Roots, and more – these are shows that experts believe may now be ‘indecent’ under recent FCC decisions, according to the report, Big Chill: How the FCC’s Indecency Decisions Stifle Free Expression, Threaten Quality Television, and Harm America’s Children.

“The results of the FCC’s campaign against broadcast indecency are clear. Much of the programming that is being censored, pushed back to a late hour, or dropped entirely by broadcasters is the very programming that Americans overwhelmingly want to see – some of the highest-quality programming available on television,� said Jonathan Rintels, Executive Director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media and author of the report.

“When the FCC’s inconsistent and confusing indecency decisions force broadcasters to censor, delay, or drop shows like Eyes on the Prize, The War, 9/11 and others, its clear that the high quality television ‘baby’ is being thrown out with the indecent ‘bathwater,’� added Rintels.

“Many parents want to watch this programming together with their children. By causing quality television to disappear, the FCC has taken a powerful tool out of the hands of parents who use television to open up a dialogue with their kids about controversial topics like violence, poverty, racial disparity, and cultural diversity,� says Peggy Charren, famed children’s television advocate, founder of Action for Children’s Television and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “Consider how many parents watched Roots with their children and then engaged in a dialogue with them about the issues raised by that provocative program. For the FCC to deny them that opportunity – that’s not helping kids, it’s harming kids.�

Based on our podcasts below, Big Chill: How the FCC’s Indecency Decisions Stifle Free Expression, Threaten Quality Television, and Harm America’s Children is here: Center for Creative Voices in Media: News.