Elections and Media

Now that the Federal Communications Commission has jettisoned its rules banning internet service providers from blocking or discriminating against lawful content, the issue is heading for Congress. And if the activists who first brought the issue into the limelight have a say, it will become an issue in the 2018 election campaign. Sen Edward Markey (D-MA) already announced plans to introduce a joint resolution to reverse the FCC's decision. Several advocacy groups, including Demand Progress, Free Press, and Fight for the Future are calling on Congress to pass it.

Governments should promote news literacy and strong professional journalism in their societies. The news industry must provide high-quality journalism in order to build public trust and correct fake news and disinformation without legitimizing them. Technology companies should invest in tools that identify fake news, reduce financial incentives for those who profit from disinformation, and improve online accountability. Educational institutions should make informing people about news literacy a high priority.

Political divides in the American news landscape do not end with Americans’ preferences for different news sources; rather, they extend to how members of the U.S. Congress communicate with constituents in the digital age. Between January 2015 and July 2017, nearly half (48%) of the links to national news outlets that members of Congress shared on Facebook were to outlets predominantly linked to by members of just one party, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

Apparently, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign, turn over documents as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Mueller asked the firm in the fall to turn over the emails of any Cambridge Analytica employees who worked on the Trump campaign, in a sign that the special counsel is probing the Trump campaign’s data operation.

Political advertisements on Facebook would have to include disclaimers showing who paid for them, under legal opinions the nation’s federal election regulators are taking up Thursday. If the Federal Election Commission (FEC) votes to adopt the requirement at its Dec 14 meeting, it would mark the first federal move to formally regulate political advertising on social media following revelations that Kremlin-tied groups used ads on Facebook and other platforms in an effort to sway the 2016 presidential election.

New financial disclosures for a November ballot initiative show that a group backed by private internet providers spent just over $900,000 to try and block city-owned broadband service in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Michael Morell is one of the career types who’s broken with decades of practice to confront President Donald Trump. A veteran of nearly three decades in the CIA, Morell rose from within the ranks to become the agency’s longtime deputy director, twice serving as its acting leader before retiring during President Barack Obama’s second term. In the summer of 2016, he broke with tradition to endorse Hillary Clinton over Trump, and he has continued to sound the alarm ever since.

A one-digit mistake by CNN has armed President Donald Trump with new ammunition for another fusillade against the media. CNN reported Dec 7 that Donald Trump Jr. received an email on Sept. 4, 2016, that granted special access to WikiLeaks documents. The network said in an online article that the email had been “described to CNN by multiple sources.” But The Washington Post obtained the email itself and reported in the afternoon of Dec 7 that the message was actually dated Sept. 14, 2016 — a difference that sets Trump Jr.’s receipt 10 days later. The date matters.

Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address for hacked WikiLeaks documents, according to an email provided to congressional investigators. The September 4 email was sent during the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race -- on the same day that Trump Jr. first tweeted about WikiLeaks and Clinton. 

We agree that fake news and misinformation are real problems that deserve serious attention. We also agree that social media and other online technologies have contributed to deep-seated problems in democratic discourse such as increasing polarization and erosion of support for traditional sources of authority.