Common Sense Media is teaming up with former FCC chairman Michael Powell, William Kennard and Newton Minow to form the Digital Kids Task Force, a move to push for government and industry funding of a broad-based media education initiative.
The group wants Congress to set up a nonprofit corporation financed through congressional appropriations, donations, grants and other public monies to fund education and research into the impact of digital media on children.
They cited the billions of dollars expected to be raised by the auction and the spectrum’s planned use for advanced wireless services including delivering the Internet to kids. The task force will approach the major wireless networks, cable companies and others with a stake in that digital future, either for help disseminating information or some funding.
“We are in a new age of communications and, in order to help parents keep their kids safe and smart,” Powell said, “we must introduce them to ‘digital hygiene’ by teaching them the proper rules for communicating in the digital era.”
