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The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, combines in a single piece of legislation provisions from around the world: whistle-blower laws and rules about Internet providers from the United States; source protection laws from Belgium; freedom of information laws from Estonia and Scotland, among others; and New York State's law to counteract "libel tourism," the practice of suing in courts, like Britain's, where journalists have the hardest time prevailing.

Could this be the year online journalism really crashes the party at the Pulitzer Prizes? With entry deadlines having passed for the Pulitzers and many other contests, the prospect that Internet-based work might take home major awards is one of many questions on prize-watchers' minds. Initial indications are that both online-only and collaborative online-print projects will be stronger this year.

Google has been awarded a patent that describes a software method for selectively restricting the availability of content on the basis of access privileges and geographical location. On the surface, it may look like this patent covers techniques for censoring politically sensitive content in specific countries-a practice that Google has recently spoken out against in its ongoing feud with China. A closer look at the patent's claims, however, shows that it has little to do with censorship and may actually relate to the company's controversial book scanning initiative.

2 large broadband providers are bringing out all the stops to fight open-Internet rules proposed by the FCC Chairman. It would unravel one of Genachowski's key initiatives.

In a Webcast news conference, Coca-Cola executives discussed how they intend to incorporate philanthropy and the social media into their Super Bowl ad plans. The social media component will come courtesy of Facebook, which is teaming up with Coca-Cola for the initiative.

The FCC is launching an inquiry into the future of media and its role in providing news and civic information. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that rapid technological change has caused financial turmoil that calls into question whether traditional media will continue to be the go-to provider of essential news and information. The commission issued a public notice teeing up some of the questions it wants answered and launched a web site to collect some of that input

On the same day that the Federal Communications Commission launched its Future of Media initiative, FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker said in a Washington D.C. speech that government needs to stay out of the media business mess.

Many broadcast networks are pushing cable TV providers to pay for transmission fees for NFL games.

"The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States....The Internet was built on Open Source Innovation. We intend to keep it that way."

Twitter page for Media Policy Initiative from the New America Foundation

"Topics under consideration for the report include the state of TV, radio, newspaper and Internet news and information services; the effectiveness and nature of public interest obligations in a digital era; and the role of public media and private sector foundations, among others. As part of the broad initiative, the FCC launched a Web site for public discussion."