Why net neutrality matters for journalists

Craig Aaron of Freepress.net speaks about why journalists should be concerned about net neutrality.
An interview with Craig Aaron

Q: Why is this an important issue for journalists to care about?

A: Sure. Well you know I think it is crucial for journalists because very simply it is about the free flow of information and free speech which certainly are things held dearly by any journalist and the decisions that we make about what the future of the internet is going to look like are going to decide whether the internet truly reaches its potential and if the internet reaches it potential than any website or blog potentially could have the reach of a television network or radio station. You know, if you have the right ideas, if you’re going the right kind of work, if you come up with the next big thing millions of people could know about it.
But if we give that away and we turn the power to decide what succeeds or fails on the internet to a small room of executives we’re not going to get all those great benefits of the free and open internet, and we’re going to be really held to the whims and political biases of a small handful of owners and that’s certainly not good for free speech or journalism and just like an innovator starting a new product shouldn’t have to go get permission from AT&T or Comcast to innovate any journalist doing serious work shouldn’t need the permission of a big phone or cable company to get that work out there, and whether you are a corporate media outlet or a small independent blog the beauty of the internet is that anybody can get online and find you content and you don’t have to cut special side deals with all the other internet service providers in order for your content to be seen, so I think that’s why journalists should absolutely be 100 percent for net neutrality because it is going to affect their ability to do their work and have their work seen or read by others.

TagsFreepress.net, Journalism