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Bender wins National Press Club journalism award for DC 911 reporting

At a virtual ceremony on Jan. 6, 2022, I was delighted to accept the National Press Club’s newsletter journalism award for my reporting with Jonathan Make in Communications Daily on problems with the District of Columbia 911 system.

Our reporting over the last couple of years showed how the D.C. 911 center, the Office of Unified Communications, has struggled to get timely help to people calling with emergencies. The District’s auditor opened an investigation and recently reported that the center failed to meet national standards. The issue also attracted interest from Congress.

Click the links in the paragraph above to read some of my articles, which are free in front of the Comm Daily paywall. And you can check out Jonathan and my full acceptance video below!

Thank you again to the National Press Club for this journalism award. The historic club based in Washington, D.C., is one of the most prestigious conveners of journalists in the country (if not the world), so this is truly an honor! I am also grateful to work for a publication like Comm Daily that encourages investigative and enterprise reporting. I plan to continue to cover 911 issues in Washington, DC, and around the country.

I’ve been lucky to receive many awards over the years for both my reporting and my novels. If you’re curious, you can see a full list right here on my website.

Happy New Year, by the way! Please stay tuned to this blog and subscribe to my newsletter for more news soon on my creative writing. I am hoping to have some pretty cool announcements for you all soon related to my novels.

Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels

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Photos: The Wanderer and the New West book signing at ALA Annual 2019

I won’t lie — I’m still buzzing from last month’s American Library Association (ALA) Annual 2019 Conference & Exhibition in Washington, DC.

Meeting new fans at ALA Annual 2019

I gave away free signed copies of The Wanderer and the New West to librarians and educators from around the country. The good folks at the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) hosted me and were a big help bringing in the crowds. My wife Mallika lent a hand getting me set up and taking photos as dystopian fans arrived to learn more about my novel.

Must … sign books … faster …

The conference itself took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and was widely attended. Mallika and I saw great keynotes by Frank Miller and Hoda Kotb.

Look at the size of that floor!

I brought a suitcase full of books — 25 copies in all — and I have to admit that I was a little scared going in that I’d have to bring most of them home. In actuality, I gave out all the books before my 20 minutes was up at the stand! I even gave out a few eBook and audiobook editions to visitors who didn’t get a paperback.

I’m all out of bullets … er, books!

The event left me on a pretty big high! I hope to get out to another big event like this soon. It was great to meet everyone who stopped by!

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Awards and Moderation

I entered WE, THE WATCHED for Amazon.com’s annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) for unpublished and self-published novels. The grand prize is a publishing contract with Penguin, including a $15,000 advance. So, yeah, wish me luck.

If telecommunications law is more your thing, you may be interested to know I recently moderated a panel about the new Congress and a potential rewrite of the Telecom Act. The panel included executives from USTelecom, NTCA, CompTel and Qwest. While I’m not sure I like seeing myself on tape, I’ve included the video of the full event below. Enjoy…or at least learn.

Broadband Breakfast: Will Congress Reopen the 1996 Telecommunications Act? from Broadband Breakfast on Vimeo.

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They Didn’t Want Their Comics Taken Away…

The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu

It happens every generation: the kids pick up a new piece of pop culture and frightened parents get riled up.

Video games are the most recent target of adult ire. After several attempts to make laws banning violent games, the Supreme Court announced this month that it will take up whether states may ban  the sale of explicit games to minors. The groups that back bans argue that violent games encourage youth delinquency, increase aggression, and yes, train future killers. The other side–gamers and civil-liberties wonks, mainly–say banning games violates freedom of speech. Besides, they contend, an industry-run parental ratings system gives parents control over the games their kids play.

Interestingly, this fight has played out before. When today’s angry parents were children, they had to defend their own controversial hobby: comic books.

I recently read a great book on the subject, The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu.  The author chronicles the panic that ensued in churches, local communities and the Congress… and the parallels abound. Like games, comics were blamed for acts of violence when it turned out the bully owned a few illustrated stories about criminals. The comic book industry even tried protecting itself from government intervention by establishing a “comics code.”

It seems that history is repeating itself. One can only wonder what today’s gamers won’t want their kids doing.

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Actualizing the National Broadband Plan

The Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus recently asked me to moderate a panel about the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. I did just that on March 29 at the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

If you missed it, you can listen to an audio recording here.

Here’s a quick summary of the panel:

The briefing, “Actualizing The National Broadband Plan: What Will Congress and the FCC Have To Do?”, featured panelists representing different perspectives on what next steps are required to realize the goals of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan released on March 17.

The panel looked ahead to the schedule of FCC Rulemakings and Inquiries that will need to be made in order to realize the stated goals of the National Broadband Plan. Further, the panel forecasted what Congressional legislation will be required to actualize the National Broadband Plan.

Panelists:

  • Adam Bender, Warren News (moderator)
  • Michael Calabrese, New America Foundation [bio]
  • Rick Cimerman, National Cable & Telecommunications Association [bio]
  • Barbara Esbin, Progress & Freedom Foundation [bio]
  • Derek Turner, Free Press [bio]
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Adam Bender | adambenderwrites.com | watchadam.blog