The prediction, in brief:

There should be a national debate about what kind of media system we should have … The debate has been framed so far by a handful of communications giants who have been working overtime to convince the American people that the data highway will be little more than a virtual electronic shopping mall.

Predictor: Chester, Jeffrey

Prediction, in context:

In an Oct. 26, 1993, article for the New York Times, John Markoff quotes Jeffrey Chester of the Center for Media Education. Markoff writes:”Seeking to ensure that the national data highway is not strictly a big-business affair, a coalition of more than 60 non-profit, consumer, labor and civil rights groups will announce today the formation of an organization intended to broaden public discussion of the technology. The group, to be called the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable, contends that in recent months too much of the planning has been dictated by the nation’s largest telephone, cable and computer companies … There should be a national debate about what kind of media system we should have,’ said Jeffrey Chester, president of the Center for Media Education, a public-interest group in Washington. ‘The debate has been framed so far by a handful of communications giants who have been working overtime to convince the American people that the data highway will be little more than a virtual electronic shopping mall.’ Among the groups in the coalition are the American Library Association, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Association of America’s Public Television Stations, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union and Ralph Nader’s group, Public Citizen. The coalition will set forth a series of what it calls public-interest principles, including universal access to the information infrastructure, freedom to communicate, a competitive marketplace, policies to ensure that electronic technologies create an equitable workplace, protection of privacy and democratic policy making.”

Date of prediction: October 26, 1993

Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure

Subtopic: General

Name of publication: New York Times

Title, headline, chapter name: The Media Business; New Coalition to Seek A Public Data Highway

Quote Type: Paraphrase

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Section D, Page 2, Column 5, Financial Desk

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney