Amit M. Schejter is associate professor of communications and codirector of the Institute for Information Policy at the Pennsylvania State University.

Few issues are more fundamental to the healthy functioning of our democracy than the existence of an open and diverse media system. For too long Communication scholars have been absent from ongoing policy debates about how to best achieve this goal. This timely and excellent collection of essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, goes a long way to remedying this abdication of our public interest obligation.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 FrameworksChapter 3 Broadband, Internet, and Universal Service: Challenges to the Social Contract of the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 4 Digital Media, Modern Democracy, and Our Truncated National DebateChapter 5 Public Scholarship and the Communications Policy AgendaChapter 6 International Benchmarks: The Crisis in U.S. Communications Policy through a Comparative LensPart 7 Infastructures and IndustriesChapter 8 Competition and Investment in Wireline BroadbandChapter 9 U.S. Cable TV Policy: Managing the Transition to BroadbandChapter 10 A Spectrum Policy AgendaChapter 11 The Way Forward for WirelessChapter 12 Rethinking the Media Ownership Policy AgendaPart 13 AccessChapter 14 Universal ServiceChapter 15 America's Forgotten Challenge: Rural AccessChapter 16 Municipal BroadbandChapter 17 The Future of the E-Rate: U.S. Universal Service Fund Support for Public Access and Social ServicesPart 18 ContentChapter 19 Public Service Media 2.0Chapter 20 Creating a Media Policy Agenda for the Digital GenerationChapter 21 Race and Media: Several Key Proposals for the Next Administration

Amit M. Schejter is associate professor of communications and codirector of the Institute for Information Policy at the Pennsylvania State University.

Few issues are more fundamental to the healthy functioning of our democracy than the existence of an open and diverse media system. For too long Communication scholars have been absent from ongoing policy debates about how to best achieve this goal. This timely and excellent collection of essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, goes a long way to remedying this abdication of our public interest obligation.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 FrameworksChapter 3 Broadband, Internet, and Universal Service: Challenges to the Social Contract of the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 4 Digital Media, Modern Democracy, and Our Truncated National DebateChapter 5 Public Scholarship and the Communications Policy AgendaChapter 6 International Benchmarks: The Crisis in U.S. Communications Policy through a Comparative LensPart 7 Infastructures and IndustriesChapter 8 Competition and Investment in Wireline BroadbandChapter 9 U.S. Cable TV Policy: Managing the Transition to BroadbandChapter 10 A Spectrum Policy AgendaChapter 11 The Way Forward for WirelessChapter 12 Rethinking the Media Ownership Policy AgendaPart 13 AccessChapter 14 Universal ServiceChapter 15 America's Forgotten Challenge: Rural AccessChapter 16 Municipal BroadbandChapter 17 The Future of the E-Rate: U.S. Universal Service Fund Support for Public Access and Social ServicesPart 18 ContentChapter 19 Public Service Media 2.0Chapter 20 Creating a Media Policy Agenda for the Digital GenerationChapter 21 Race and Media: Several Key Proposals for the Next Administration

Amit M. Schejter is associate professor of communications and codirector of the Institute for Information Policy at the Pennsylvania State University.

Few issues are more fundamental to the healthy functioning of our democracy than the existence of an open and diverse media system. For too long Communication scholars have been absent from ongoing policy debates about how to best achieve this goal. This timely and excellent collection of essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, goes a long way to remedying this abdication of our public interest obligation.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 FrameworksChapter 3 Broadband, Internet, and Universal Service: Challenges to the Social Contract of the Twenty-First CenturyChapter 4 Digital Media, Modern Democracy, and Our Truncated National DebateChapter 5 Public Scholarship and the Communications Policy AgendaChapter 6 International Benchmarks: The Crisis in U.S. Communications Policy through a Comparative LensPart 7 Infastructures and IndustriesChapter 8 Competition and Investment in Wireline BroadbandChapter 9 U.S. Cable TV Policy: Managing the Transition to BroadbandChapter 10 A Spectrum Policy AgendaChapter 11 The Way Forward for WirelessChapter 12 Rethinking the Media Ownership Policy AgendaPart 13 AccessChapter 14 Universal ServiceChapter 15 America's Forgotten Challenge: Rural AccessChapter 16 Municipal BroadbandChapter 17 The Future of the E-Rate: U.S. Universal Service Fund Support for Public Access and Social ServicesPart 18 ContentChapter 19 Public Service Media 2.0Chapter 20 Creating a Media Policy Agenda for the Digital GenerationChapter 21 Race and Media: Several Key Proposals for the Next Administration