February 2017

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

NEWS CONFERENCE FOR THE AGES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Chris Cillizza]
President Donald Trump entered the East Room reeling from a week filled with resignations, withdrawals and continued questions surrounding his campaign's contacts with Russia. What followed was an hour-long, full-throated attack on Trump's favorite foil: the media. “Many of our nation's reporters will not tell you the truth,” President Trump said. “The press honestly is out of control,” President Trump said. “The level of dishonesty is out of control,” President Trump said. And that was before he even took a single question! It was a return for President Trump to what worked for him during the course of the 2016 campaign: A circuslike atmosphere in which he uses the media — and his supporters' distrust of the media — as a sort of tackling dummy to re-center the narrative on ground more favorable to him. Trump didn't just run down the media — although he did a lot of that — but he also mocked various outlets, reviewed shows on cable TV that he likes (and doesn't), told reporters to sit down and be quiet, and critiqued the quality of the questions he was being asked. There was a rawness to his attacks, a personal invective that seemed well beyond the typically antagonistic relationship that exists between the media and the president they cover. Why do it? Because Trump understands something very important: For his supporters, the media represent everything they dislike about American society. The media is composed, to their mind, of Ivy-League educated coastal elites who look down their noses at the average person, dismissing them and their views as stupid and ill-informed. For people who feel like their voices weren't and aren't heard in politics — or culture more broadly — the media is the perfect scapegoat.
benton.org/headlines/president-donald-trump-delivers-series-raw-and-personal-attacks-media-news-conference-ages | Washington Post | Washington Post | The Hill | B&C | The Hill – contact with Russia | The Hill – Clinton emails different | The Hill - Jim Acosta
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TRUMP SUPPORTERS RECEIVE "MAINSTREAM MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY SURVEY"
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: Timothy Johnson]
Moments after President Donald Trump concluded a press conference at which he unleashed numerous attacks on the press, his fundraising committee circulated a “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey” urging supporters to “do your part to fight back against the media’s attacks and deceptions.” Trump and his administration have engaged in an unprecedented war on the press. The president routinely singles out legitimate outlets and reporters as “fake news,” and his chief strategist has labeled the press the “opposition party.” During his February 16 press conference, Trump was particularly "combative" with reporters, turning the event -- which was ostensibly to announce a new labor secretary nominee -- into a “screed against the media.” The e-mail blast from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, which presumably is also an attempt to build its email list, calls his supporters “our last line of defense against the media’s hit jobs” and urges readers to fill out a “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey” in order to “do your part to fight back against the media’s attacks and deceptions”.
benton.org/headlines/trump-supporters-receive-mainstream-media-accountability-survey-moments-after-president | Media Matters for America | again
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LEAK INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: CNN, AUTHOR: Eli Watkins]
Two top House Republicans asked the Inspector General to investigate leaks surrounding the ouster of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The request came in a letter from House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). "We request that your office begin an immediate investigation into whether classified information was mishandled here," the letter to the Inspector General read. Trump's administration has been beset by damaging leaks over its first month, including reports of Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador to the US in December that ultimately led to his downfall. President Trump himself has decried such leaks as the "real scandal." Chairman Chaffetz has so far declined to investigate President Donald Trump's potential conflicts of interest or potential ties to Russia between himself or his aides.
benton.org/headlines/chairmen-chaffetz-goodlatte-ask-government-watchdog-investigate-leaks | CNN
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AGENDA

FCC OPEN MEETING FEB 23
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, February 23, 2017:
Connect America Fund: The Commission will consider a Report and Order adopting rules to provide ongoing support targeted to preserve and advance high-speed mobile broadband and voice service in high-cost areas that the marketplace does not otherwise serve.
Connect America Fund; ETC Annual Reports and Certifications: The Commission will consider a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration that (1) resolves a number of issues raised in the Phase II Auction Order FNPRM, including the adoption of weights to compare bids among service performance and latency tiers, and (2) considers several petitions for reconsideration for decisions made in the Phase II Auction Order.
Authorizing Permissive Use of the “Next Generation” Broadcast Television Standard: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to let television broadcasters use the “Next Generation” broadcast television transmission standard associated with recent work of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC 3.0) on a voluntary, market-driven basis.
Revitalization of the AM Radio Service: The Commission will consider a Second Report and Order that would relax the siting rule for an FM fill-in translator rebroadcasting an AM broadcast station.
Small Business Exemption From Open Internet Enhanced Transparency Requirements: The Commission will consider an Order granting a five-year waiver to broadband Internet access service providers with 250,000 or fewer broadband connections from the enhanced reporting requirements adopted in the 2015 Title II Order.
Comprehensive Review of the Part 32 Uniform System of Accounts: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would streamline and eliminate outdated accounting rules no longer needed to fulfill the Commission’s statutory or regulatory duties
benton.org/headlines/fcc-hold-open-commission-meeting-february-23-2017 | Federal Communications Commission
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SEN HATCH ROLLS OUT TECH AGENDA
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Brendan Bordelon]
Sen Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced a sweeping tech-focused agenda that aims to bolster the H-1B visa program, prevent forum-shopping by patent trolls and improve data privacy both at home and abroad. In a speech on Capitol Hill, the Utah Republican addressed the tech community’s concerns about President Donald Trump potentially issuing an executive order that could weaken the H-1B visa program, which many tech employers say they rely on to fill high-skilled positions. Sen Hatch, who’s chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, said it was important for tech leaders to do their part in persuading Trump not to weaken the foreign-worker program, and that includes “not provoking the White House unnecessarily.” He reiterated his close relationship with Trump, and stressed his ability to act as a “bridge” between Silicon Valley and the administration when it comes to the H-1B program and other industry issues. “I know he trusts me,” Sen Hatch said, referring to President Trump. “Then again, I’m not sure he trusts anybody … but I think he does trust me. He knows I’m not going to go around what he’d like to do.”
benton.org/headlines/sen-hatch-rolls-out-tech-agenda-warns-industry-against-provoking-trump | Morning Consult | Multichannel News
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

NETWORK NEUTRALITY ON THE BLOCK
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Margaret Harding McGill, Alex Byers]
Leading Republicans want to get rid of the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules — and substitute them with less-stringent legislation. And they’re hoping the threat of an FCC repeal of the Obama-era regulations will coax congressional Democrats to the negotiating table. It’s a scenario reminiscent of many Republicans’ approach to Obamacare, which they want to tear down without being accused of stripping health care coverage from millions of Americans. So far, Democrats aren’t taking the bait. Rather than cozy up to the majority to strike a deal, liberal lawmakers previewed a scorched-earth strategy to stop the FCC from repealing the rules in the first place. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said repeal would bring a “political firestorm” upon Republicans. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) likened the coming fight to the tech industry's 2012 uprising against the Stop Online Piracy Act.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-could-be-gops-next-repeal-and-replace-target | Politico
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LIFELINE LETTER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Over a dozen Democratic members of the House Commerce Committee have asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to reverse his reversal of nine Lifeline broadband subsidy authorizations granted in the waning weeks of his predecessor, Chairman Tom Wheeler. In a letter to Chairman Pai, they said his halting of the expansion of the program, which provides subsides for basic communications services to lower income residents, unnecessarily pulls the tools to connect out of the hands of the poor in the case of one provider, which is already providing service, and the potential for the other eight--which are not yet providing service--to supply those tools. "The order does not explain how its actions will accomplish those goals," they said. "Furthermore, since the Order raised many novel policy questions regarding the Commission’s current efforts to safeguard the integrity of the Lifeline program, we find it troubling that the Chairman would insist on pursuing the same course he has so often criticized his predecessors for: an improper exercise of the FCC’s delegated authority and a refusal to permit the full Commission from voting on an item that poses new questions of law and policy." They said they were all for making the program more efficient and accountable, but said that need not come at the expense of the consumers who benefit from the Lifeline subsidies.
benton.org/headlines/more-house-members-push-pai-lifeline-authorizations | Broadcasting&Cable
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TELEVISION

PAI ON BROADCAST TV
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Ajit Pai gave his first TV interview as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to Fox Business Network and said he would investigate indecency complaints against CBS, NBC or anyone else if they were presented to him. Chairman Pai appeared on The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan. Regan cited an F-bomb on Saturday Night Live and Adele's F-bomb on the Grammys and asked if the FCC would be investigating them for "this kind of stuff." "If we are presented with complaints, we are duty bound to enforce the law," he said, "and the law that is on the books today requires that broadcasters keep it clean so to speak." Chairman Pai said he took that FCC obligation seriously. But Chairman Pai did suggest he would be watching what broadcasters say on air, per FCC indecency rules on the books, adding: "[A]s a parent I want to make sure that my kids have a wholesome experience when they are watching programs like that."
benton.org/headlines/fccs-pai-broadcast-tv-keep-it-clean | Broadcasting&Cable
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February 2017

In Trump Era, Censorship May Start in the Newsroom

Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong arrested on charges of bribery

Post-merger Charter keeps losing TV customers as it pushes new pricing

Turner Studies Impact of Red-Blue Divide on Viewing

NCTA asks FCC to waive closed-captioning registration and certification for every programmer

Tech and the Fake Market tactic

February 17, 2017 (A News Conference for the Ages)

The FCC Is Sucking The Life Out Of Lifeline

FCC To Hold Open Commission Meeting February 23, 2017

Trump Supporters Receive “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey” Moments After President Slams Reporters