We have just begun work on a digital archive of James H. Quello’s speeches, articles, and statements dating from 21 January 1974, for his Senate Confirmation Hearing. My thanks to the MSU Library for helping the Quello Center with this project, and from today we will start searching for funding to support this archiving project.
James H. Quello
The core material will be Commissioner Quello’s written speeches, articles and statements, but we will be adding biographical materials, photos, and video material. This should be a valuable source for anyone seriously interested in the history of regulation and policy in the communication sector in the USA.
Our thanks to the MSU Library and to Sarah Roberts with the MSU Archives & Historical Collections.
I couldn’t find a recent post on the Fifth Estate, so I am commenting here. I have just finished viewing one of your earlier addresses on the Network of Networks – The Fifth Estate (OII 2007). In order for a credible estate to emerge, it has to rely on a strong constitutional foundation. Each of the existing estates have amendment or specific mention in the constitution that legitimizes its establishment and shields it in the course of its function. Is it possible for a fifth estate to emerge and to function with existing constitutional protections? In case they are insufficient, what would be the possible route: amendment? constitutional convention?
Khaled Soubani, happy to respond re my work on the Fifth Estate. The Estates are not directly linked to specific legal or constitutional provisions, albeit Montesquieu’s tripartite notions were built into the US Constitution. In my view, the Fifth Estate can emerge in a variety of legal-institutional contexts, and are not necessarily a product of a particular one. See some of my work on SSRN – freely available. Just search SSRN Dutton Fifth Estate. Thanks.
Thanks. The first three estates are directly mentioned in the constitution along with the body of laws. The fourth estate depends on the free speech amendment and the press does not need any permission from any of the three other estates to be established or to operate, with only limited government intervention in the case of the public airwaves. As for the fifth estate, and I do like it (watching the video broadened my horizon a bit more), government is involved in shaping the networks at almost every stage (net neutrality) and ready to challenge it at every corner (encryption). Even the fourth estate has some reservations about it because it has arrived with unmistakable winds of change.
Great to read your serious reflections, and hope I can see your paper or thesis on this topic. Most of my blogs on the Fifth Estate are on my personal blog at BillDutton.me Hope to see you there as well.