Your Voice Here 3/15!

Hey Guys. Right now we are prepping to shoot Your Voice Here. Its another absolutely gorgeous day which usually means lots of interest in getting interviewed. Last week we departed from the usual format of picking the biggest headline story of the week to discuss, and instead talked about net neutrality in preparation for the up coming media reform conference in Boston. The topic was tricky because few people are familiar with it, and its hard to convey concisely. It took a bunch of tries to get the wording down, but by the end, I felt like we were nailing it. Went something like this:

" Excuse me, can I ask you one quick question about the internet?" (a complete lie of course because I proceeded to talk their ear off for five minutes straight.)

"Are you familiar with the term net neutrality?"

If no, "There is a piece of legislation in Congress right now that threatens net neutrality. The bill would allow corporations to purchase large portions of the internet and sell it back to internet providers in exchange for faster and easier access. This would create a two tiered internet system between sites who can pay such fees to internet providers and those who cannot."

Then, finally, we get to the real question: "What would you like to say to your representation about this legislation?"

People continue to surprise me with wacky, left field responses but that is the nature, and fun, of man on the street interviews.

I felt like I was only doing a so so job of explaining the issue, because its so complicated. We didn't even touch on the fact that the corporations making internet purchasing could be one in the same with news media content providers AND internet providers, which I think it the bigger, more problematic issue at hand. but maybe we'll get there this week. The real challenge is finding a way to phrase the question that is both concise and comprehensive.

Wish us luck! See you all around