BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
Today's Event -- Connecting America: Improving Access to Infrastructure for Communities Across the Country, Senate Commerce Committee hearing -- https://www.benton.org/node/255422
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
Barring Reporters From Briefings: Does It Cross a Legal Line?
Sen Durbin hammers President Trump over criticism of media
Barring Reporters From Briefings: Does It Cross a Legal Line?
Q&A: Floyd Abrams on the battle for the soul of the First Amendment - [links to Benton summary]
Oklahoma AG's office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used private email for state business [links to Benton summary]
The White House’s Politico slime job, from start to finish [links to Washington Post]
George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter: Trump is ‘the living, riffing embodiment of anti-rhetoric’ [links to Washington Post]
Trump Admin Promised to Shake up WH Media Traditions. One Month In, Spicer Delivers. [links to Benton summary]
President Trump blames Obama for protests, leaks [links to Benton summary]
Hudson Institute’s Gabriel Schoenfeld: The laws against leaking remain fixed, but President Trump has turned the moral calculus on its head. [links to USAToday]
President Says He Tweets to Bypass 'Dishonest' Media [links to Benton summary]
Trump gives himself a ‘C or C+’ grade for communicating with the public: Needs improvement [links to Benton summary]
Trump says 'sometimes it's the reverse' when asked about anti-Semitic incidents [links to Benton summary]
Internet Archive Chairman Brewster Kahle: The web is ‘not fun and games any more’ [links to Vox]
JOURNALISM
Fox News Hires David Bossie, Former Head Of Citizens United And Trump Deputy Campaign Manager [links to Media Matters for America]
Can donor-funded newsrooms be truly independent? - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Jon Stewart to the media: ‘Take up a hobby. I recommend journalism.’ [links to Vox]
Op-Ed: Get Rid Of The White House Correspondents Dinner [links to MediaPost]
CNN’s Correspondents' Association dinner guests will be journalism students, not celebs [links to Hill, The]
NET NEUTRALITY
Remarks of Chairman Pai at Mobile World Congress - speech
Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Spreads More Alternative Facts About Net Neutrality - Free Press
FCC head Ajit Pai: You can thank me for carriers’ new unlimited data plans
Here’s Why Net Neutrality is Essential in Trump's America - Vice [links to Benton summary]
Former FCC Chairman Wheeler: Things are 'going the way I feared'
MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
Amazon cloud sputters for hours, and a boatload of websites go offline [links to Ars Technica]
There Will Always Be Internet Outages, So Buckle Up [links to Vice]
NCTA: A Blueprint for Internet Infrastructure Success - press release [links to Benton summary]
Public Knowledge: Infrastructure Plan Should Improve Broadband Availability & Affordability - press release [links to Benton summary]
Facebook to Telcos: Forget Hardware Empires—Let’s All Share [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Google is going after cable with its own streaming service, YouTube TV
TELEVISION
LPTVs Pitch FCC's O'Rielly on Repack Challenges, Opportunities [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Americans have fewer TVs on average than they did in 2009 [links to Ars Technica]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
The Wisdom of Nokia's Dumbphone [links to Atlantic, The]
SATELLITE
SoftBank Orchestrates Satellite Deal to Expand Internet Reach
LABOR
Work and social policy in the age of artificial intelligence [links to Brookings]
DIVERSITY
The Oscars set a diversity record, but that’s not enough [links to Verge, The]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
How Long Can Border Agents Keep Your Email Password? [links to Benton summary]
Why are so many toys vulnerable to hacking? [links to Verge, The]
Governors Discuss Better Coordination, Establishing Protocols to Improve Cybersecurity [links to Government Technology]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Remarks of Zenji Nakzawa at 911 Goes to Washington Conference [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Seeks Comment on Wireless Carriers' Privacy and Security Plan for the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) [links to Federal Communications Commission]
POLICYMAKERS
Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. Sworn in as Secretary of Commerce by Vice President Mike Pence [links to Department of Commerce]
Trump Slow to Submit Nominations for Top Administration Posts. Of 549 key positions that require Senate confirmation, 516 have not been nominated [links to Wall Street Journal]
WH Names Cyber Adviser to Economic Council [links to Benton summary]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
FCC Furthers Cooperation With Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India - press release
Cambodian Government Cites Trump in Threatening Foreign News Outlets [links to Benton summary]
China’s Twitter clone will soon have more users than Twitter [links to Quartz]
BT to cut bills for landline-only customers after Ofcom review [links to Financial Times]
Comcast to Buy Remaining Stake in Universal Studios Japan for $2.3 Billion [links to Wall Street Journal]
back to top
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
BARRING REPORTERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
“It has been held impermissible,” Federal Judge J. Paul Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.” Feb 24’s developments at the White House crossed that legal line, said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “That was unconstitutional,” he said. “If you exclude reporters from briefings that they otherwise have a right to attend because you don’t like their reporting, then you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination.” Viewpoint discrimination by the government in a public forum is almost always unconstitutional. Public officials are not required to give reporters perfectly equal access, of course, and exclusive interviews and selective leaks are commonplace and lawful. But First Amendment experts said the allocation of government resources like press passes and access to public forums like news conferences must be based on neutral criteria rather than discrimination based on what the journalists had written.
benton.org/headlines/barring-reporters-briefings-does-it-cross-legal-line-0 | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
DURBIN HAMMERS TRUMP OVER CRITICISM OF MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
Sen Dick Durbin (DIL) railed against President Donald Trump, blasting the president for his attacks on the news media. “The integrity of the news industry is under an unprecedented attack,” Sen Durbin said at an event put on by National Association of Broadcasters. “These attacks aren’t just coming from outside our border or the Russian government. The attacks are coming from our own government.” In his speech, the Democratic senator outlined several protections for journalists that he wants Congress to pursue, including preserving federal libel standards and spending more on public media. He also implored President Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence to consider working with Congress to pass a shield law that would protect journalists from revealing their sources. The Illinois senator noted that he was particularly concerned by the president’s remarks in the context of Trump’s tone on Russia. “His near-constant stream of invective towards the media is even more troubling when you consider that President Trump has had only praise for a dictator and former KGB official who ordered a cyber act of war against our nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Durbin told the crowd.
benton.org/headlines/sen-durbin-hammers-president-trump-over-criticism-media | Hill, The | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
BARRING REPORTERS FROM BRIEFINGS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
A ruling issued on Feb 27 by a federal judge in Manhattan, in a case brought by a freelance journalist without a lawyer, may interest the White House. The judge said that the New York Police Department may have violated the First Amendment by revoking the press credentials of the journalist, Jason B. Nicholas. The ruling was preliminary, and the Police Department said it had legitimate reasons for its actions. But Judge J. Paul Oetken’s decision was timely, following as it did the exclusion of several news organizations from a Feb 24 meeting.. “It has been held impermissible,” Judge Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.” Feb 24’s developments at the White House crossed that legal line, said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “That was unconstitutional,” he said. “If you exclude reporters from briefings that they otherwise have a right to attend because you don’t like their reporting, then you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination.” Viewpoint discrimination by the government in a public forum is almost always unconstitutional.
benton.org/headlines/barring-reporters-briefings-does-it-cross-legal-line | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
NET NEUTRALITY
PAI REMARKS AT MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
In the United States, we are in the process of returning to the light-touch approach to regulation that produced tremendous investment and innovation throughout our entire Internet ecosystem—from the core of our networks to providers at the edge. Together, these policies—light-touch regulation, facilities-based competition, flexible use policy, and freeing up spectrum—have produced impressive results in the U.S. market... After the Federal Communications Commission embraced utility-style regulation, the United States experienced the first-ever decline in broadband investment outside of a recession. But today, the torch at the FCC has been passed to a new generation, dedicated to renewal as well as change. We are confident in the decades-long, cross-party consensus on lighttouch Internet regulation—one that helped America’s digital economy thrive. And we are on track to returning to that successful approach. Going forward, the FCC will not focus on denying Americans free data or issuing heavyhanded decrees inspired by the distant past. At the same time, however, we recognize that government does have a role to play when it comes to broadband. We will also create incentives to deploy broadband in parts of our country that private investment hasn’t yet reached. In short, America’s approach to broadband policy will be practical, not ideological. We will embrace what works and dispense with what doesn’t.
benton.org/headlines/remarks-chairman-pai-mobile-world-congress | Federal Communications Commission | B&C | USA Today | The Hill | CNN
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PAI’S ALTERNATIVE FACTS
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Matt Wood]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai Ajit wants people to believe that he’s a champion for more open and affordable broadband. The actions he’s taken since becoming chairman last month show he’s anything but. Using the exact same kind of unilateral power plays he previously decried in other chairmen, he’s made it far more difficult for low-income families to take advantage of a program that makes broadband access more affordable. His only plan is floating tax breaks to companies for the networks they’re already building, even though he has no power to change tax law and even though these kinds of tax breaks would do nothing to make internet access more affordable. Pai keeps repeating the utterly debunked claim that the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules are utility-style regulations that are hurting broadband deployment. This is false on the law and false on the facts. It ignores not just the actual language of the FCC order, which explicitly forbears from the bulk of Title II, but the actual impact that Title II reclassification has had on the market. Pai’s claim that Net Neutrality protections have created great uncertainty in the marketplace is a flat-out lie, as is his notion of flatlining investment by internet service providers. We long ago discredited these claims. Pai’s frequent charge that investment has declined is based on the claims made by one industry-paid analyst, who selectively edits the figures reported by some of these companies. But if you take account of the industry’s spending as a whole, you’ll see that broadband-industry investment was nearly 9 percent higher in the two years following the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order than it was in the two years prior. What’s more, these industry aggregate totals don’t tell the whole story. Individual companies large and small significantly increased their broadband-infrastructure investments following the rules’ adoption. Comcast, the nation’s largest ISP, has invested far more in the two years following the FCC's order as the company has rolled out the next generation of cable-modem service. Smaller providers like Cincinnati Bell have increased their investments in fiber-to-the-home technology. And all wireless carriers have invested in completing their 4G deployments and preparing for 5G. Reporters shouldn't let Trump's man at the FCC spread easily debunked falsehoods like these. Pai’s relentless spin and his inaccurate numbers beg the question: What else is Pai misleading us about? People need to take a moment to double check the alternative facts coming from this FCC chairman.
benton.org/headlines/donald-trumps-fcc-chairman-spreads-more-alternative-facts-about-net-neutrality | Free Press | see the real numbers
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PAI: THANK ME FOR CARRIERS' NEW UNLIMITED DATA PLANS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said his "light-touch" approach to regulation is already helping consumers in the form of unlimited smartphone data plans from major US carriers. And he predicted that getting rid of "utility-style regulation" over broadband providers will boost Internet access across the US. There are, however, reasons to think that the FCC's zero-rating decision was not responsible for the new unlimited data offerings. For one thing, selling unlimited data harms the business case for paid data cap exemptions. If carriers don't limit the amount of data mobile customers can use each month, there's no reason for online content providers to pay the carriers for zero-rating. While data caps are hated by customers, they create a scarcity that can be monetized by carriers as long as the FCC allows paid zero-rating. Secondly, there were already unlimited data plans before Pai became chairman. T-Mobile USA introduced its "T-Mobile One" unlimited plan in August 2016, while Democrat Tom Wheeler was still FCC chairman and the FCC was pursuing its net neutrality investigation into zero-rating. Sprint was already selling unlimited data and so was AT&T (although AT&T's unlimited data was only available to DirecTV and U-verse TV customers).
benton.org/headlines/fcc-head-ajit-pai-you-can-thank-me-carriers-new-unlimited-data-plans | Ars Technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
WHEELER: THINGS ARE 'GOING THE WAY I FEARED'
[SOURCE: CNN, AUTHOR: Seth Fiegerman]
A month into the new Federal Communications Commission administration, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, "It's going the way I feared." In particular, Wheeler points to the FCC taking steps to weaken network neutrality. As chairman, Wheeler slammed wireless companies like AT&T for violating net neutrality rules by letting customers stream content from its video service, DirecTV, without counting toward data plans. That effectively makes third-party video services more costly. But this month, the FCC dropped all investigations into the issue. Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC also voted recently to undo a net neutrality transparency rule requiring smaller broadband providers to disclose details on data caps and fees. "Conservatives used to be against letting big companies determine who gets on the broadcast airwaves, but now they are for allowing big companies to determine who gets on the Internet [and] on what terms," Wheeler said. "It seems to me the lobbyists are winning out over core principles here," he added.
benton.org/headlines/former-fcc-chairman-wheeler-things-are-going-way-i-feared | CNN
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CONTENT
YOUTUBE TV
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Google is taking the plunge into live television with a new streaming service that's designed to compete with Sling TV, DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue. Google revealed YouTube TV — a $35-a-month service that allows for up to six user profiles. The plan, which like other streaming services does not require a contract or long-term commitment, comes with many of the same key channels available on other platforms, such as Comcast SportsNet, ESPN, Syfy and the Disney Channel. YouTube TV also comes with a strong array of broadcast network channels, such as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and the CW, though Viacom appears to be absent from the lineup. Local news programming from network affiliates will also be included, according to Robert Kyncl, YouTube's chief business officer, at the event. Still, YouTube TV lacks some notable cable channels — CNN, HBO and Cartoon Network are not on the list featured in YouTube's blog post, for example.
benton.org/headlines/google-going-after-cable-its-own-streaming-service-youtube-tv | Washington Post | YouTube | CNN | Multichannel News
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SATELLITE
ONEWEB-INTELSAT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andy Pasztor, Mayumi Negishi]
Japanese telecom company SoftBank Group is orchestrating a deal between US satellite startup OneWeb and debt-laden satellite operator Intelsat SA in an attempt to deliver faster and cheaper internet connections world-wide. OneWeb, which is 40 percent-owned by SoftBank, will buy Intelsat, combining two very different types of satellite fleets that would offer low-cost, versatile connectivity spanning the globe. As part of the deal, SoftBank will inject $1.7 billion into the combined company, in which it will hold a 40 percent stake. The deal, which is subject to approval by Intelsat bondholders, would lower Intelsat’s roughly $14.5 billion debt by about $3.6 billion, while allowing OneWeb to further expand its ambitious satellite-production and deployment plans in the next decade.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1184997867353413486100458264945375900377...
SoftBank-Backed OneWeb Set to Merge With Rival Satellite Operator (New York Times)
benton.org/headlines/softbank-orchestrates-satellite-deal-expand-internet-reach | Wall Street Journal | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
FCC FURTHERS COOPERATION WITH THE TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman R.S. Sharma signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for cooperation between the two agencies. The nonbinding agreement sets out a framework for the mutually beneficial exchange of ideas through activities such as best practices sharing, bilateral workshops, and digital videoconferences. To guide these efforts, the FCC and TRAI have determined topics of shared interest, including accelerating broadband deployment and aligning spectrum policy to meet increasing mobile broadband demand. Given the broader bilateral partnership between the United States and India, the FCC has long engaged with Indian counterparts on issues of telecommunication regulatory policy. The agreement reinforces the ongoing positive working relationship between the FCC and TRAI and identifies opportunities for further collaboration in an increasingly interconnected world.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-furthers-cooperation-telecom-regulatory-authority-india | Federal Communications Commission | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
