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The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated attention to the public consequences of digital exclusion and to local, state, and federal emergency digital inclusion efforts. In this case study, we examine private sector, municipal government, and nonprofit efforts to close the divide during the pandemic in Philadelphia, which has one of the worst urban connectivity rates in the United States. Drawing on news accounts, policy documents, and interviews with city staff, we assess Philadelphia's digital inclusion efforts during the pandemic. Our findings show that inclusion efforts faced challenging logistics, limited data on the unconnected, funding concerns, and sometimes pushback from Internet service providers (ISPs). The latter were by necessity crucial partners in connectivity efforts but failed to address basic digital access gaps without significant public and governmental pressure, signaling the need for public alternatives. Our analysis foregrounds the disconnect among well-resourced ISPs, connectivity gaps marked by digital redlining in the poorest communities, and political constraints on robust public broadband policy.

International audience ; This essay reflects on Ed Herman"s legacy by connecting his intellectual background to the anti-fascist project within the political economic tradition of communication research. Given that one of the authors (Todd Wolfson) was good friends with Ed and worked with him on independent media, we also consider how he applied his radical critique to local activist projects in Philadelphia. This analysis helps underscore the fact that Ed Herman"s insights hold much contemporary relevance for the many political problems facing American and global society today.

International audience This essay reflects on Ed Herman"s legacy by connecting his intellectual background to the anti-fascist project within the political economic tradition of communication research. Given that one of the authors (Todd Wolfson) was good friends with Ed and worked with him on independent media, we also consider how he applied his radical critique to local activist projects in Philadelphia. This analysis helps underscore the fact that Ed Herman"s insights hold much contemporary relevance for the many political problems facing American and global society today.

The question of impact looms over media policy scholarship. Despite engaging similar issues, media policy makers and communication scholars often diverge in defining the scope of the problems they address, with the former group largely guided by economic and legal analysis and influenced by partisan ideologies and political obligations. In the introductory essay for this Special Section, we highlight the value of communication scholars' contributions to policy debates, particularly given their broader analytical frame and critical focus. Against this backdrop, we situate the Consortium on Media Policy Studies (COMPASS) program, which is designed to immerse students of communication policy in the policy-making processes to inform their research. As the contributions to this Special Section illustrate, this nexus of communication scholarship and policy-making practice yields important insights and interventions, shedding light on the most pressing policy issues we face today.

While many policy analysts have focused on the fate of the 700 MHz auctions, the digital TV transition, and the promise of white space devices, a more vast and underutilized resource has gone largely unnoticed: government spectrum. The best available data suggests that the majority of federal spectrum capacity is left unused. Strategic reuse of this spectrum could help obviate the need for significant additional reallocation while enabling a wide range of creative new uses and social benefits. Based on what little information is publicly available, it is reasonable to assume that the repurposing of government spectrum would go far in addressing a number of access-related communication problems. Repurposing currently unused U.S. government-controlled spectrum for opportunistic unlicensed use would benefit society by dramatically expanding access to high-speed broadband and increasing the pace of wireless technology innovation. This approach to spectrum policy presents a "third option" for reform, drawing from both the commons and property rights models of spectrum management.

It is widely held that journalism, journalists and news all play important roles for democracy and an informed citizenry. News publishers have journalistic authority and are oftentimes seen as one of the most important knowledge-producing institutions in society, routinely carrying out epistemic practices that strive towards producing verified and reliable news about public affairs. The COVID-19 pandemic has forcefully reminded us about this vital information function of the news media, with a surge in traffic to mobile applications and news sites around the world. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is simultaneously crushing the advertising business that plays such a vital role in funding news production. This commentary argues that many journalistic institutions - particularly on the local level - currently face an existential crisis, one that calls for immediate and collective action. With a normative desire of saving journalism, we put forward that society should engage in what we refer to as communal news work as an attempt to financially sustain journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and well into the future. ; publishedVersion