January 2017

At least six journalists were charged with felony rioting after they were arrested while covering the violent protests that took place just blocks from President Donald Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington on Jan 20. The journalists were among 230 people detained in the anti-Trump demonstrations, during which protesters smashed the glass of commercial buildings and lit a limousine on fire. The charges against the journalists — Evan Engel, Alexander Rubinstein, Jack Keller, Matthew Hopard, Shay Horse and Aaron Cantu — have been denounced by organizations dedicated to press freedom. All of those arrested have denied participating in the violence.

“These felony charges are bizarre and essentially unheard of when it comes to journalists here in America who were simply doing their job,” said Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of Pen America. “They weren’t even in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were in the right place.” Carlos Lauria, a spokesman and senior program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the charges “completely inappropriate and excessive,” and the organization has asked that they be dropped immediately. “Our concern is that these arrests could send a chilling message to journalists that cover future protests,” Lauria added.

Senior Trump Administration staffers including Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon have active accounts on a Republican National Committee e-mail system. The system (rnchq.org) is the same one the George W. Bush Administration was accused of using to evade transparency rules after claiming to have “lost” 22 million e-mails.

Making use of separate political e-mail accounts at the White House is not illegal. In fact, they serve a purpose by allowing staff to divide political conversations (say, arranging for the president to support a congressional re-election campaign) from actual White House work. Commingling politics and state business violates the Hatch Act, which restricts many executive branch employees from engaging in political activity on government time. But after then-candidate Donald Trump and the Republicans repeatedly called for “locking up” Hillary Clinton for handling government work with a private server while secretary of state, the new White House staff risks repeating the same mistake that dogged the Democrat’s presidential campaign. They also face a security challenge: The RNC e-mail system, according to US intelligence, was hacked during the 2016 race. It’s not clear whether or how Trump staffers are using the RNC email addresses. I

[Commentary] The window of opportunity for negotiating a legislative compromise on reasonable network neutrality protections is 2017. The 2015 assumptions supporting the old political calculus all collapsed with the election outcome. If supporters believe net neutrality is an enduring principle and protection worthy of being put into law, and not just politics, then a reasonable bipartisan compromise should be possible.

A critical point here that many are missing is that the old net neutrality political calculus was not about net neutrality itself. It was about the FCC asserting and gaining court deference so it could de facto legislate Internet policy over time via unbounded, sweeping, regulatory authority. In short, the election completely upended the old net neutrality political calculus. Net neutrality supporters would be wise to take the proverbial bird in hand of a legislative compromise now, rather than betting they can grasp for the two birds in the bush whenever they want. Time will tell if enough Senate Democrats consider net neutrality a substantive policy worth preserving.

[Scott Cleland is President of Precursor LLC chairman of NetCompetition, a pro-competition e-forum supported by broadband interests.]

[Commentary] Because you will be the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, we want to initiate a dialogue with you—and the public. At the core of that dialogue: How the FCC can foster competition in the communications market yet at the same time protect the American public from media concentration and oligarchic control of television, radio and the internet.

The Writers Guild of America, East, represents thousands of writers working in film, television, news and digital media. Our members are directly affected by the decisions made by the FCC. They have made it clear that they want their work to be accessible to as many people as possible through an open internet and a competitive marketplace. If the FCC were to overturn net neutrality and allow companies like AT&T and Time Warner to merge, the real losers will be hardworking Americans who will see their bills increase and their access to content restricted. As you assume the chairmanship of the FCC, please contemplate all the possible consequences of your actions and take these vital concerns to heart.

[Michael Winship is the President of the Writers Guild of America, East. Lowell Peterson is the Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East.]