FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact:

November 13, 2008 Betty Anne Williams, (202) 789-3505

bawilliams@jointcenter.org
Margaret H. Bolton, (202) 789-3511
mbolton@jointcenter.org

Technology Leaders Applaud Joint Center on Launching New Institute to

Focus on How Minorities Use Media
“New Media and New Possibilities: Realizing the Promise of the Digital World”

WASHINGTON, DC – With the goal of strengthening knowledge and generating policy development
activities in a critical area, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies today launched a new
institute to study how the media industry and emerging communications technologies affect African
Americans and other people of color.

The Joint Center Media and Technology Institute will serve as a center for research on how minority
Americans use media, how existing communications policies affect them and how emerging interactive
forms of media can expand opportunity for them and their communities.

“New communications technologies are having an enormous and immediate impact on the way we live, the
way we work, the way we learn and the way we participate in the political process,” said Ralph B. Everett,
President and CEO of the Joint Center. “Particularly for many young people living in underserved
communities, the stakes are enormously high. This Institute will examine these new trends and build the
evidentiary record for the development of relevant policies, programs and initiatives.”

Everett added that the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute will look to close gaps and create new
opportunities for access to the digital world for both young and old and explore what measures can be taken
to enable the media and technology worlds to become an avenue of advancement for people of color.

“Amid this opportunity, we expect that the Joint Center’s Media and Technology Institute will be a
wellspring of ideas and innovative thinking enabling lawmakers and citizens alike to leverage the new
media landscape to improve and inform their lives,” said The Honorable Joyce London Alexander Ford,
Chair of the Joint Center’s Board of Governors.

During today’s launch of the Institute at the National Press Club in Washington, former Federal
Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard joined others in highlighting the importance
of the new Institute. “Economic success, educational achievement and political engagement are
increasingly being shaped and defined by the way people use media and communications technologies,”
said Kennard. “And so it is vitally important that those of us who want to improve the socio-economic status
of people of color and expand their engagement in the political and public policy arenas must understand
how media and technology can advance these goals.”

The launch of the Institute comes after an historic election which saw the winning candidate employ both
traditional media and new online technologies to bolster fundraising, political outreach and voter turnout
efforts – exemplifying how the use of new media technologies can reach a broad scope of individuals and
motivate them to participate in the election process.

At today’s launch event, the Joint Center announced that another former FCC chairman, Michael K. Powell
Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners, Inc., will chair the new Institute’s National Advisory
Committee. “We hear encouraging things about how African Americans and Hispanic Americans are
eagerly adopting the new ways of communicating that technology is making possible,” said Powell.
“What’s needed now is a focal point for research and policy activity so that we can know more about these
types of trends and suggest ways to leverage our knowledge into real improvements in our communities.
We now have that in the Joint Center’s Media and Technology Institute.”

Among the Institute’s initial areas of focus will be improving broadband access and online activities among
people of color, examining how new media technologies can improve education and health care, and
exploring ways that emerging technologies can improve civic engagement and political participation.

Larry Irving, former Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) will serve as senior fellow for the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute. While at NTIA, he
was a principal advisor to the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on domestic and
international telecommunications and information technology issues. In the coming months, the Joint Center
will announce the selection of a new Vice President to serve as the Director of the Institute and lead a team
of additional senior fellows to undertake the research initiatives. Initial funding for the Institute was
provided by Verizon Communications, Comcast Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, National Cable &
Telecommunications Association and CTIA – The Wireless Association®.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s premier research and
public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular
concern to African Americans and other people of color. For more information about the Joint
Center, please visit our Web site at http://www.jointcenter.org.

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