Steve Anderson is a

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

-based Canadian open media advocate, writer, video producer, and social media consultant. He writes a monthly syndicated column called “Media Links”. Anderson was instrumental in starting a nationwide

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

campaign to stop the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) from allowing

usage-based billing A data cap, often referred to as a bandwidth cap, is a restriction imposed on data transfer over a network. In particular, it refers to policies imposed by an internet service provider to limit customers' usage of their services; typically, excee ...

and ending flat-rate Internet access in Canada.

National campaign

Anderson is the founder of

OpenMedia.ca OpenMedia is a Canadian non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization working to encourage open and innovative communication systems within Canada. Its stated mission is "to advance and support a media communications system in Canada that adher ...

, a Canadian nonprofit organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Anderson was instrumental in sparking a nationwide public campaign against a decision by the CRTC to allow

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

to impose

, which would effectively end Canada's flat-rate Internet access. His efforts reached the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

's office attracted international attention.

Writer and commentator

Anderson is a regular commentator on media and telecommunications developments, appearing both in Vancouver and Canadian national media. Anderson has worked for

The Real News The Real News Network (TRNN) is a news organization based in Baltimore, Maryland, that covers both national and international news. It includes both for-profit arm and non-profit organizations. History TRNN was founded by documentary producer ...

, FreePress, The

Center for Media and Democracy The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...

, and

Free Speech TV Free Speech TV (FSTV) is an American progressive news and opinion network. It was launched in 1995 and is owned and operated by Public Communicators Incorporated, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1974. Distributed prin ...

. Anderson's writing has appeared in numerous local and national print and online publications such as ''

The Tyee The Tyee is an independent daily news website based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in November 2003 as an alternative to corporate media. Articles in The Tyee focus on politics, culture, and life. The Tyee was founded b ...

'', the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', ''

Epoch Times ''The Epoch Times'' is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates ...

'', ''

Adbusters The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "a global network of artists, activis ...

'',

Rabble.ca rabble.ca is an independent, non profit, English-language Canadian online magazine founded in 2001. It features podcasts, videos and a discussion board called ''babble''. History Judy Rebick and Mark Surman founded rabble.ca on April 18, ...

, ''Common Ground'', ''Vue Weekly'' and ''Social Policy Magazine''. Steve is a contributing author to Censored 2008: The Top 25 Censored Stories, and Battleground: The Media.

References

External links

Campaign for Democratic Media 2008 Annual ReportWhy Big Media is FailingThe Rise of the ProducerOpen Media, Open Government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Steve Canadian activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)