On Tuesday, June 14th, I was invited by the Writers Guild of America, East to speak at a briefing in the Senate Judiciary Hearing Room in Washington, DC on the subjects of Net Neutrality and Internet Piracy, two issues that have been linked together in legislature. A panel of working writers in television, film, news and digital media gathered to brief legislative staff on why our country must maintain an open internet.
For the record, an open internet is what you have now. Without legislation, we could give the power to media corporations who can then arrange partnerships with other media moguls, and charge non-corporate sites large fees to have basic things like high-speed site loading and visibility. This is not just an issue of creativity. Do you want people to be able to visit the website you built for your small business? Do you want large corporations to decide what you can do, say, watch and have access to on the internet? Or do you want to keep the internet the way it is– open, diverse and free?
I was tasked with discussing the role net neutrality plays in web television and how detrimental it would be to our country if the internet was instead run solely by media corporations.
Below is the speech I made to close the important event.
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Creativity, innovation, and a public that is concerned about the issues affecting them — those are the gifts that net neutrality has given our country.
It is no surprise that some of the most popular sites on the internet are sites with publicly-generated content — YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr. On these sites, the citizen, regardless of gender, race, or economic class, has the same voice as the celebrity or corporation. And artists and innovators have a chance to reach an audience directly and in turn develop their own business models. We artists have been told repeatedly by corporations that the public wants to see certain mainstream content. Ironically, many of the most popular and profitable websites and web series would never have made the cut in a corporate-run internet.
My show, Downsized, depicts stories of people often ignored by corporate media: the unemployed, the endangered middle class, the small business owners, the immigrants, women in leadership roles, and homeowners facing foreclosure, those who have faced the economic crisis the most harshly. If not for the freedom of an open internet, this show, which was produced and distributed entirely independently and has become one of the most acclaimed web shows, might never have been seen.
Then We Got Help created by Julie Ann Emery depicts the struggles within contemporary relationships of both heterosexual and homosexual couples. It touches on gay marriage, same-sex adoption, infertility, women who are breadwinners, and unemployment within the banking industry. Two web dramas with millions of viewers, Anyone But Me and Out With Dad, depict the coming of age of lesbian teenagers. Web comedies Dating in the Middle Ages and 50 to Death depict romance after 40. The drama Diary of a Single Mom dramatizes the obstacles single mothers face such as childcare, healthcare, and education. Each of these non-mainstream, independent shows have not only found enormous audiences but well-deserved awards because they had a home on the internet, a home they did not have in corporate-run media.
The public looks to the internet to find content they are not given the opportunity to see in a mainstream media run by major corporations. By turning the internet into the cable system you will be turning the public away from the internet by replicating a system that does not depict the diversity in this country but rather reflects the opinions of a small group of media owners comprised mostly of white wealthy males… a group I am personally quite fond of, but the internet public has demonstrated that they would like to hear from other groups as well.
If we no longer had an open internet, my web site, DigitalChickTV.com, which I built on WordPress myself for $70 with a free online tutorial, would load so slowly that it wouldn’t be worth visiting, that is if you could even find it. The community of women who are empowered by visiting my site would instead be frustratedly tapping their mouse.
Stifling access to information and curbing revolutionary ideas would be detrimental to this country. We have become a smarter, more aware, more inventive, and more empowered culture, and that is because the internet is that cool, open space where the public has a voice and a choice and a platform for their curiosity. That is why people hang out there all of the time. The internet is inherently about sharing not mediating. Without net neutrality, the internet is simply not the internet.
Daryn Strauss
Creative Director, DigitalChickTV.com
The accomplished panel included: front row (l-r): Digital Chick TV Creative Director Daryn Strauss, WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson, WGAE President Michael Winship, Gina Gionfriddo (writer for shows including Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Cold Case), back row (l-r): Julie Ann Emery (creator, web series Then We Got Help!), Duane Tollison (newswriter for CBS Radio Network), Tom Ruprecht (former Letterman staff writer and writer on How I Met Your Mother), Thom Woodley (web video pioneer and founder of Dinosaur Diorama), Michael Kantor (director, producer, and writer of the PBS documentary Broadway: The American Musical), and Thomas Poarch (co-creator, web series Brosephs).
The event was organized by several members of the Writers Guild of America, East, including Peterson, Winship, Ursula Lawrence, Elana Levin, and Justin Molito.
Daryn,
What a great honor! Congrats.
I have a couple questions for you just to help clarify. First, you state in your “For the record” that the change in legislation would give power to the media companies.
What legislation is circling through Congress that is in the works to “change” the Internet? I’ve never heard of any change except by those who are pro Net Neutrality, which actually is spawning legislation to prevent Net Neutrality. I guess you are right, but without one pushing on the other, there’d be no change in legislation. The media companies, of sorts, do control the internet since there isn’t any government involvement.
So what is now “open” would stay open, right? So right now it’s not broken? Then who is trying to change it from what is current?
I’m just trying to understand your point or help you make it more clear.
Also, I don’t think it’s a fair assessment that media companies are white males. Of course they are wealthy, but that’s what their board and shareholder’s want. Plus, what’s wrong with being wealthy? I just think it’s more diverse than you are led to believe.
The CEO of BET, for example, is female and black. I’m just saying have some solid facts when you speak to Congress…they’ll respect your opinion more.
Congrats again.
Thanks for the catch Patrick. The “for the record” sentence you referred to was poorly worded on my part and was not part of what I presented in DC. But the House has voted against net neutrality, which would allow corporations to mediate the internet to their business needs and could change the internet as we know it. I would visit http://www.savetheinternet.com for all the info on the specifics of the current legislative battles. I was not asked to speak on the ins and outs of proposed legislation but to provide a better understanding of why net neutrality is an issue that needs to be protected from the experience of an independent online creator. The need for legislation emerged directly out of actions by telecom companies to create a tiered internet.
As for diversity, although there are women and minorities in leadership positions in mainstream media, diversity is definitely a problem. BET is a network geared to a minority so it is not necessarily indicative of the trends in leadership throughout mainstream media or telecom (Randall Stephenson, CEO AT&T, Phillip Humm, CEO T-Mobile, Ivan Seidenberg, CEO Verizon, Brian Roberts, CEO Comcast, Daniel Hesse, CEO Sprint, Jeff Zucker, CEO NBC, Bob Iger, CEO ABC, Les Moonves, CEO CBS). But like I said, the issue is really that underrepresented groups not only have an equal voice on the internet but they have also in fact been quite successful on the internet.
I guess I just don’t see where the existing problem is. I don’t know where the internet is turning into a cable system which will turn the internet into a closed system.
I see your fear that other websites will get priority over yours in a “throttling” action by the cable company. If I were you, I complain to your neighbor for downloading 20 Netflix movies every month. He is draining your internet. It’s neighbors like those that should pay more…and I think that’s why the ISPs have come up with a tiered pay system.
I just don’t think Congress needs to get involved quite yet.
Have a great weekend.