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February 2017

Ranking Member Nelson lashes out at FCC chairman for scrapping E-rate report

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, tore into Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for scrubbing a commission progress report on the E-rate, a program that helps provide broadband connections to schools and libraries. “Your unilateral action last week to quash a staff report providing an analysis and progress report of the agency’s E-Rate modernization efforts shows a troubling disinterest in the facts,” Sen Nelson wrote in a letter to Chairman Pai. “The facts are these: the revitalized E-Rate program is now connecting more schools and libraries in every state with faster and better broadband. More students in more places, including in more rural areas, can now get access to the tools they need for a digital education, which is essential if our nation’s students are to compete in the 21st century economy.”

Under new Trump chairman, FCC means business

[Commentary] As much as the Tom Wheeler Federal Communications Commission was known for its pro-consumer bias, the Ajit Pai FCC will become known for its pro-business bent. It is not that consumers will be forgotten; it is that Chairman Pai is an unabashed free-market trumpeter and proponent of limited federal government. As such, he is expected to encourage the private sector not only to pull its weight on competition, but also on consumer protection.

In opinion after opinion, Pai maintains that the key challenge for businesses — both large and small —is complying with an overweight regulatory regime. This philosophy, articulated often and eloquently by Pai, sits foursquare with the Trump doctrine and will guide Pai's actions, and most importantly, communications policy, for the foreseeable future.

[Adonis Hoffman is chairman of Business in the Public Interest and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He served from 2013 to 2015 as chief of staff and senior legal advisor to a FCC commissioner.]

Sean Spicer’s chilling words

NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker cited a disputed report that Yemen had withdrawn permission to the United States to conduct anti-terrorism ground missions in that country — a result of a raid that resulted in civilian casualties as well as the death of Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6. Despite reports and commentary insisting that the operation failed, Spicer has insisted that it was a success. Welker asked him, “Does that not undercut the administration’s ability to fight terrorism in that region, and do you stand by your assessment that it’s a success?” There would be no policy change coming from the podium. “It’s absolutely a success,” said Spicer, whose boss has shown a fondness for labeling his own ventures “successful.” “And I think that anyone who would suggest it’s not a success does disservice to the life of Chief … Owens. He fought knowing what was at stake in that mission, and anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn’t fully appreciate how successful that mission was — what the information that they were able to retrieve was and how that will help prevent future terrorist attacks.”

The message? Uh, media outlets — and anyone else, for that matter — had better not undermine “the success of that” raid — as if questioning the raid after the fact could possibly alter anything about the action.

Radio Free Europe, Voice of America launch new Russian-language TV channel

The Atlantic Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Voice of America (VOA) held an official introduction and discussion about the new Russian-language TV network, Current Time. Known as “Настоящее Время” in Russian — a term that connotes “current,” “real,” and “true,” Current Time is a 24/7 digital network, providing Russian-speaking audiences with accurate and independent local, regional, and international news. Current Time connects Russian speakers in more than ten strategic countries with each other and the world, on digital platforms, social networks, satellite, and cable TV. RFE/RL and VOA launched Current Time to provide audiences with an alternative to the Moscow-controlled media and provide a reality check on disinformation.

When the Pai FCC Abandons the Public Interest, Who You Gonna Call?

On February 6, 2017, Andrew Jay Schwartzman – the Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation – appeared before the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in an unusual role. The Federal Communications Commission was scheduled to defend its rules to lower the predatory prices inmates and their families pay to make prison phone calls. But with new FCC leadership in place, the FCC decided to not defend the rules, thus abdicating to Schwartzman the protection of the public interest.

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