Commissioner Clyburn with PPH staff

On Wednesday, February 23^rd, People’s Production House was honored to welcome FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her Chief of Staff, David Grimaldi, to our offices in New York City.

Commissioner Clyburn met with Radio Rootz Co-Directors, Jacqueline Kook and Sylvia Guerrero and Program Associate, Kristal Graham to discuss PPH’s youth training program and then met with Deputy Director, Marisa Jahn, Media Policy Associate, Kristofer Rios and CNPI Program Associate Abdulai Bah to dialogue about PPH’s adult training program and media policy initiatives. Commissioner Clyburn talked with our staff for an extended period of time asking incisive questions that demonstrated a genuine interest in our method of incorporating media policy into our media trainings and community-based journalism.

Commissioner Clyburn’s visit coincided with a video training program for a collaborative project between PPH and the PBS NewsHour’s Online Student Reporting Lab, facilitated by Training and Policy Director, Carlos Pareja. Students had just returned from practicing composition and framing and were beginning to look at their video footage. Commissioner Clyburn sat amongst the young students and raised questions about how best to use framing and set design to present your subject to an audience. Commissioner Clyburn blended into the classroom setting like the engaged learner she is, connecting to individuals and groups participating in media to realize the democratic potential of a communications system that serves the public interest. We couldn’t be happier having a champion of the people within our home. Thank you Commissioner Clyburn, we look forward to staying connected! Go here to see all the photos.

On February 16th, Congress will hold a hearing on Network Neutrality, the basic democratic principle of the Internet that prevents Internet Service Providers, like phone and cable companies, from favoring certain content over another. At this hearing, Congressional Members will make know their intentions to repeal the Federal Communication Commission’s recently introduced Network Neutrality rules.

If passed, this repeal wouldn’t just scrap the rules- it would prevent the FCC from taking action on this important issue in the future. While the FCC’s rules are far from perfect, they do provide a framework under which the agency can protect consumers and punish bad actors. Without this framework, internet service providers will be free to discriminate against users, services and types of traffic at will.

Make no mistake: this will be a decisive vote. This is the only time that Congress will vote “yes or no” on Net Neutrality, so it’s crucial that they vote the right way. Help us send a clear message to Congress: a vote for the repeal act is a vote against Internet users.

To contact your Congressional Representative and take action on February 17th to preserve the democratic foundation of the Internet please use the following link set up by our allies in the media justice movement, Public Knowledge,

Click here to be automatically connected to your Representative on the 17th

If you are an immigrant parent with children who fluently speak your native language, what would you do to help them keep that language of yours as they gear up for school here in America? It’s a question many immigrant parents struggle with especially within the Hungarian community of New York City. Bojana Varga of the New York Community Media Alliance has this report. This story initially aired on WBAI 99.5FM.

Egyptians in Queens

When Hosni Mubarak resigned from office on February 11th 2011, millions of Egyptians came out to celebrate his departure in Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere in the country. In “Little Egypt” Queens, New York, hundreds of Egyptians and their supporters also came out brazing the freezing weather to sing and dance as they express their joy for what many of them have called the “new freedom” of the country. Community News Production Institute reporter, Abdulai Bah was there to speak to some of them.