Harry Jessell

[Commentary] Well, that was a disappointment. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who has set himself up as a champion of the First Amendment, failed to stand up for TV news at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Sen Tom Udall (D-NM) asked him if he agreed with President Trump's tweet that CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC are "the enemy of the American people." Chairman Pai evaded the question. First, he said, he didn't "want to wade into the larger political debates" and, then, when pressed, said weakly that everybody is entitled to First Amendment protections. Pai's answer should have been simple: "No, Senator, I don't." He did not have to elaborate. Not only would that have assured us that Pai is a thinking man and the free press advocate we believe him to be, it would also have assured us that the Pai FCC will be independent of the White House. Chairman Pai also refused to disclose what was discussed in his meetings with President Trump before his elevation to chairman in January and his re-nomination to another term this week.

[Commentary] President Trump's attacks on the mainstream news media have not only energized them, but have prompted them to work together to plot a common strategy to preserve and expand their First Amendment rights and protections. National and local broadcasters should support this effort, providing money and speaking out.

[Commentary] Sinclair is building a national TV news organization and there is a lot to like about that. Unfortunately, what's emerging is one with a conservative bent. If Sinclair wants to give its stations a push to the right that is certainly its prerogative, but I would hope it would not go that route. There is a better way. ABC, CBS and NBC are fine models — clear, concise, polished newscasts with minimal bias and NO commentary.

[Commentary] Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said the other day that the auction “delivered on its ambitious promise.” That’s quite a stretch by any measure. The final numbers of $18.3 billion for 70 MHz of spectrum is miles away from the commission’s talk when this all started back in 2010.

[Commentary] Whoever President-elect Donald Trump appoints to head the Federal Communications Commission, broadcasters figure they should be in much better shape than they have been with the outgoing Chairman Tom Wheeler, who provided no relief on the out-of-date ownership restrictions. With Wheeler's departure, the Republicans will suddenly have a 2-1 majority, a three-person quorum necessary to do business and the power to set the agenda that comes with the chairmanship.

[Commentary] Can you believe this? A year ago, the Federal Communications Commission teased broadcasters with prospective incentive auction opening bids for TV stations ranging from $900 million to $1.2 million. Now, going into Stage 4, with the money broadcasters want and what wireless carriers are willing to pay far, far apart, there's a possibility the whole enterprise may come to naught. If so, the wireless industry should be made to reimburse the FCC for the millions (tens of millions?) of dollars that the agency has spent creating, designing and executing the auction over the past seven years.

[Commentary] There may be no better way to get a handle on how Donald John Trump will govern than to see who he appoints to replace Tom Wheeler as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Will he appoint a chairman that will eschew new regulations and cut down existing ones? Or will he choose someone who will make good on Candidate Trump's oft-stated desire to bring "mainstream media" to heel?

[Commentary] As president, [Donald Trump] would be in position to use government agencies to constrain media and to harass and punish individual media companies that offended him during his campaign or that too aggressively cover his administration. Broadcasting and cable are especially vulnerable because their businesses are directly and heavily regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. One of the things we have learned from the Obama Administration is that the notion that the FCC is independent of the White House is a joke. See network neutrality.

Trump wouldn't be the first to abuse the office in such a way. Lyndon Johnson and especially Richard Nixon were adept at using government power to pressure the networks and their affiliates. During the height of Watergate, Nixon threatened the Washington Post's TV licenses. There are a lot of reasons to support or not support a candidate for president. For broadcasters, I think, this is a big one. They have an obligation to preserve and protect the First Amendment as it preserves and protects them.

[Commentary] As one of two Republican commissioners who voted to end the Federal Communications Commission's ban on television-newspaper crossownership only to come up short, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai summed up his — and the industry's — frustration: "We end[ed] up keeping a rule on the books that almost no one at the FCC actually believes make sense any longer. This is a shame because our regulations should always be shaped only by the facts and law — not crass political considerations."

[Commentary] In the minds of many folks, newspapers and over-the-air TV broadcasting are "old media" that will suffer the same fate: an ever-increasing slide to extinction. However, there is evidence, that their paths are diverging and broadcasting is in much better shape. And with ATSC 3.0 on the horizon, the prospects for stations to compete successfully with digital media grow even brighter.