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  2. June 2016

June 2016

Is Donald Trump's Endgame the Launch of Trump News?

Every election cycle has its own breakout media star. In 1992, it was CNN. A few years later, it would be an e-mail blast called the Drudge Report. By 2000, the country had more or less been neatly delineated between MSNBC and Fox News households. The 2008 election introduced Politico and the Huffington Post to the adults’ table. BuzzFeed joined in 2012.

The breakout media star of 2016 is, inarguably, Donald Trump, who has masterfully—and horrifyingly—demonstrated an aptitude for manipulating the news cycle, gaining billions of dollars worth of free airtime, and dominating coverage on every screen. Now, several people around him are looking for a way to leverage his supporters into a new media platform and cable channel.

NPR Gives False Equivalence To Critics Of Court Ruling Upholding FCC Net Neutrality Rules

A report from NPR’s news program All Things Considered on the federal appeals court decision upholding federal rules on network neutrality gave false equivalence to critics’ claims that net neutrality would “stifle innovation,” even though numerous tech experts and telecommunication companies have said the opposite. Tech experts have said net neutrality not only promotes competition, but that it also has been the guiding principle behind Internet innovation since its inception. In a report the same day, NPR All Things Considered co-host Kelly McEvers and NPR tech blogger Alina Selyukh engaged in a false equivalency, providing a platform for the views of net neutrality critics while leaving out certain facts. McEvers said, “Critics like Texas Senator Ted Cruz have called the rules Obamacare for the Internet,” and Selyukh detailed the telecom industry’s argument that the FCC rules will “stifle innovation, and it will stop them from investing in these really important networks.”

But neither McEvers nor Selyukh acknowledged that the prevailing opinion is that these arguments are false. Tech experts have called net neutrality the guiding principle that has made the Internet successful, Google's director of communications has said the net neutrality rules would promote competition and help the economy, and the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that "there is unlikely to be any negative impact from such regulation on [internet service provider] investment." Furthermore, numerous telecom companies in 2014 told their investors they would continue to improve their networks even under the FCC regulations.

The shadowy war on the press: How the rich silence journalists

When Gawker Media was sentenced to pay Hulk Hogan $140 million in damages for publishing his sex tape, it was seen as a victory over snarky New York media. Now, with the revelation that the lawsuit was secretly bankrolled by Silicon Valley Billionaire Peter Thiel in retaliation for an article that outed him as gay, the case has become a symbol of something else: a shadowy war on the press that’s being waged by wealthy individuals and companies, with a boost from social media.

Thiel’s provocation isn’t the oddity the media is treating it as. It’s merely the latest case of powerful interests trying to silence a journalist. Jane Mayer is a well-known investigative reporter who works for The New Yorker and is highly regarded for exposing wrongdoing and miscreant behavior. Her most recent target was the Koch brothers, only this time the target fought back. In a counterattack as sophisticated as their political finance operation, the Kochs hired Vigilant Resources International, a firm run by the former commissioner of the New York Police Department, to dig up dirt on Mayer.

4 ways newsrooms can address a lack of diversity

[Commentary] Newsrooms have addressed diversity in fits and starts over recent decades, but those efforts have stagnated in the past 10 years. In fact, the portion of newsrooms made up of people of color has actually ticked downward one percentage point during this period, according to the American Society of News Editors, from nearly 14 percent to less than 13 percent. The lack of long-term change in this regard stems at least in part from media-wide apathy. But it’s a question of resources as well, especially in the face of the industry’s daunting financial prospects. How do you hire a staff that includes people of different races, genders, and experiences?
1. Acknowledge there is a problem.
2. Consciously work to overcome barriers to entry.
3. Tell stories minorities want to read.
4. Focus on retention.

Altice wins final regulatory approval to acquire Cablevision

New York state regulators approved European telecommunication group Altice NV's acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp, a $17.7 billion deal that would create the fourth-largest US cable provider. The unanimous approval by the New York State Public Service Commission with conditions means the Dutch company has cleared the final regulatory hurdle to complete the transaction announced in September.

Altice said it was pleased with the approval and expects to close the deal by the end of the month. Cablevision has 3.1 million subscribers, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In May, the Federal Communications Commission approved the Altice acquisition of Cablevision, saying it was in the "public interest" and noted Altice had vowed to invest to upgrade Cablevision broadband. New York regulators agreed to approve the deal if Altice agreed to pass 25 percent of the estimated $450 million in cost savings from the deal to subscribers over five years. The company is barred from laying off workers for four years in any customer-facing jobs in New York. The sale includes other Cablevision assets including the News 12 programming networks; Newsday, a Long Island daily newspaper; amNewYork, a free daily serving New York City; and Star Community Publishing, a publisher of weekly shoppers and community papers on Long Island.

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