August 2017

Rosenworcel, Carr Get Washington Welcome

The confirmations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr to five-year terms on the Federal Communications Commission drew a crowd of reactors. The FCC is prepared to be at full strength—five commissioners—as it gets ready to take on network neutrality, media ownership regulation reviews, 5G, a new broadcast transmission standard, and repacking most of a thousand TV stations in the wake of the incentive spectrum auction.

“I congratulate Brendan and Jessica on their confirmations," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "As I know from working with each of them for years, they have distinguished records of public service and will be valuable assets to the FCC in the years to come. Their experience at the FCC makes them particularly well-suited to hit the ground running. I’m pleased that the FCC will once again be at full strength and look forward to collaborating to close the digital divide, promote innovation, protect consumers, and improve the agency’s operations.”

Rural Broadband: Taking a Broad-Scope Look at Fed and State Legislation

At the federal level, four bills relating to widespread broadband have been introduced. Take the Rural Broadband Deployment and Streamlining Act (S 1363), introduced by Sens Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Dean Heller (R-NV). It is meant to bolster the expansion of broadband infrastructure on federally owned land. If successful, the bill would also require a streamlined federal application process for expediting broadband deployment.

The most recent legislation was introduced on Aug 1. The bipartisan Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (AIRWAVES) bill (S 1682), was introduced by Sens Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH). The legislation aims to drive down wireless costs by opening commercially licensed and unlicensed spectrum space, while hopefully bettering broadband access in rural areas. In a similar spirit, the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act of 2017 (HR 2903) would direct the Federal Communications Commission to develop a national standard for “reasonably comparable” broadband services in rural and urban areas. Since the bill’s introduction in mid-June, however, it has not progressed in the House. Also in mid-June, Reps Doug Collins (R-GA) introduced legislation that would provide tax incentives for companies willing to build out rural broadband services. The so-called Gigabit Opportunity Act (HR 2870) would effectively allow companies to front load the expensing of investments in rural networks within applicable zones. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai lauded the bill, which has not progressed since its June 16 introduction. And in March, Sens Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced legislation that would streamline broadband permitting in existing highway rights-of-way for broadband infrastructure projects. Called the Highway Rights-of-Way Permitting Efficiency Act of 2017 (S 604), the bill seeks to avoid duplicative federal permitting and regulations and other issues that cause project delays and cost-overruns.

As Mueller closes in, President Trump prepares his base for the worst

[Commentary] President Donald Trump is again attacking the media Aug 7, and his broadsides carry a newly ominous edge: He is both faulting the media for allegedly downplaying the size and intensity of support from his base and accusing them of trying to deliberately weaken that support for him. "The Trump base is far bigger & stronger than ever before (despite some phony Fake News polling). Look at rallies in Penn, Iowa, Ohio......" "Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!" the President tweeted.

Because President Trump is undermining our democratic norms and processes in so many ways, it is often easy to focus on each of them in isolation, rather than as part of the same larger story. But, taken together, they point to a possible climax in which Trump, cornered by revelations unearthed by Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and by ongoing media scrutiny, seeks to rally his supporters behind the idea that this outcome represents not the imposition of accountability by functioning civic institutions, but rather an effort to steal the election from him — and from them.

Ex-CNN commentator hosts video 'news' segment on President Trump Facebook page

Former CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany hosted a video "news" program over the weekend on President Donald Trump's Facebook page. "Thank you for joining us as we provide you the news of the week from Trump Tower here in New York," McEnany said at the beginning of the segment.

During the video, McEnany, appearing in front featuring Trump's campaign logo and website, touted the recent jobs report. The economy added 209,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, the Commerce Department reported Aug 4. Trump hailed the strong numbers last week, saying he had "only just begun." "President Trump has clearly steered the economy back in the right direction," McEnany said in the segment.

Political Donors Put Their Money Where the Memes Are

Imagine you’re a millionaire or billionaire with strong political views and a desire to spread those views to the masses. Do you start a think tank in Washington? Funnel millions to a shadowy “super PAC”? Bankroll the campaign of an up-and-coming politician? For a growing number of deep-pocketed political donors, the answer is much more contemporary: Invest in internet virality.

As TV, radio and newspapers give way to the megaphonic power of social media, today’s donor class is throwing its weight behind a new group of partisan organizations that specialize in creating catchy, highly shareable messages for Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms. Viral media expertise is emerging as a crucial skill for political operatives, and as donors look to replicate the success of the social media sloganeers who helped lift President Trump to victory, they’re seeking out talented meme makers.

Dish Network's Way Forward Still Not Clear

[Commentary] It is not exactly a secret that Dish Network has all but given up on its DBS service, choosing instead to concentrate on Sling TV while trying to squeeze out every last penny of profit from the satellite TV business. But the company’s income was way down in the second quarter, even taking into account the $280 million fine in the telemarketing case the company booked in the quarter. And all other key financial indicators declined in the quarter, except for slightly better churn.

[Bob Scherman is the editor and publisher of Satellite Business News]

Facebook is starting to put more posts from local politicians into people’s News Feed

Facebook is testing a new feature that inserts posts from local politicians into users’ News Feeds, even if they don’t necessarily follow those politicians. The new feature included a label titled “This week in your government.” A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the feature is a test. "We are testing a new civic engagement feature that shows people on Facebook the top posts from their elected officials,” this spokesperson said in a statement. “Our goal is to give people a simple way to learn about what’s happening at all levels of their government.” The feature will appear, at most, once per week, and only for users who follow at least one local, state or federal representative from their area. Facebook knows who your local reps are if you handed over your address to use the company’s voting plan feature — or its “Town Hall” feature, which helps people find and follow their elected officials. Otherwise, you’ll just see posts from politicians at the state and federal levels.

Civis Analytics Poll Shows Bipartisan Opposition to AT&T/Time Warner Merger

Recently, Civis Analytics released a competition poll that shows broad, bipartisan opposition to the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. The poll found that “[t]he proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner is opposed by 64 percent of Americans, including 65 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Republicans, and 63 percent of Independents.” The poll further revealed that “[a] large majority (83 percent) of Americans also believe that ‘mergers among media companies or internet service providers will raise costs for consumers.’”

The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Counsel at Public Knowledge: “We believe that a consolidated media landscape threatens to reduce the diversity of viewpoints Americans have access to, and consolidation tends to drive up prices for consumers. The public appears to agree. As the government continues to review the proposed AT&T merger with Time Warner, and Sinclair’s proposed purchase of Tribune, it is critical that the antitrust principles and communications policies explicitly designed to prevent price gouging and designed to promote diversity of viewpoints are strictly enforced.”

As politicians become less civil, so does the internet

[Commentary] In a new project, we have been working to track and understand incivility by examining the extent to which users post offensive comments on Reddit. Reddit has received a great deal of attention from political analysts in recent years due to the fact that it has a robust offering of political discussion boards. In fact, Reddit has become an important enough player in online political discussions that President Obama and a host of 2016 presidential candidates took to the forum to engage with its users. Findings:
Posts became more offensive during the general election campaign
Offensive posts are more popular

What’s most telling is that our research shows that the tone of discussions on Reddit seems to respond to how our politicians are behaving.

[Rishab Nithyanand is a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Information and Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Brian Schaffner is a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. Phillipa Gill is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.]

News Media Alliance Blasts Sessions Leak Comments

The News Media Alliance didn’t like what it heard out of the Justice Department about potentially subpoenaing media outlets in the ongoing investigations of leaks. "The News Media Alliance strongly condemns these statements, as they are an attempt to chill communications between the press and government officials," the group said. "The free flow of information to reporters is crucial in order to bring matters of great public importance to light. Threatening the use of subpoenas that could compel reporters to testify, and, in particular, to reveal the identity of a confidential source, will restrict the flow of information to reporters and ultimately to the public on matters of public interest, such as waste, fraud and abuse within the government and in the private sector." "The press provides a vital role in helping the public to hold the government accountable," said Alliance President David Chavern. "The Attorney General’s statements are an attempt to stifle communications between government officials and journalists which will ultimately keep the public in the dark.”

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