August 2017

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

DOJ LEAK CRACKDOWN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage, Eileen Sullivan]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department was now pursuing three times as many leak investigations as the previous administration, a significant devotion of law enforcement resources to hunt down the sources of unauthorized disclosures of information that have plagued the Trump Administration. AG Sessions vowed that the Justice Department would not hesitate to bring criminal charges against people who had leaked classified information. He also announced that the FBI had created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these cases. The Sessions news conference came against the backdrop of repeated pressure by President Trump, in public and in private, for the Justice Department and the FBI to hunt down people inside the government who have been telling reporters what was happening behind closed doors. In addition, Sessions said that after meeting with FBI and intelligence investigators, the Justice Department would review its policies affecting media subpoenas. “We respect the important role the press plays and we’ll give them respect, but it’s not unlimited,” AG Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’ role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the Armed Forces and all law-abiding Americans.”
benton.org/headlines/ag-sessions-says-doj-has-tripled-number-leak-probes-warns-media-could-be-targeted | New York Times | Sessions' Remarks | The Hill | Washington Post
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SESSIONS MIGHT SUBPOENA JOURNALISTS TO REVEAL LEAKERS. PENCE ONCE FOUGHT AGAINST THAT.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Callum Borchers]
Remember Judith Miller? She is the former New York Times reporter who in 2005 spent almost three months in jail because she refused to identify the government source who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Attorney General Jeff Sessions raised the prospect that more journalists will have to make the same decision Miller did — out the source or go to jail — when he said the Justice Department is “reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas” as part of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on leaks. Miller, now a Fox News contributor, wrote in 2016 about how Mike Pence, then a Republican congressman from Indiana, invited her to his office upon her release from jail and promised to push for a shield law. She said, "True to his word, Mr. Pence introduced the 'Free Flow of Information Act' with Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA). 'As a conservative who believes in limited government,' he said after reintroducing the legislation, which failed the first time he proposed it, 'I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.'" In 2007, the Columbia Journalism Review called Mike Pence “journalism’s best ally in the fight to protect anonymous sources.” In the end, however, Pence failed to secure passage of his shield law, and there is still none in place. That is one reason that Sessions now has the power to subpoena journalists.
benton.org/headlines/jeff-sessions-might-subpoena-journalists-reveal-leakers-mike-pence-once-fought-against | Washington Post
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WHY ARGUMENTS AGAINST WAPOS OVAL OFFICE LEAKS ARE WRONG
[SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, AUTHOR: Trevor Timm]
[Commentary] The Washington Post made waves on Aug 3 when it published the full transcripts of President Donald Trump’s erratic phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia that occurred just after he was inaugurated. Despite their clear news value, some journalists and pundits questioned whether the leaked transcripts should be published. Far from being criticized for publishing these leaked transcripts, The Washington Post should be commended. The Trump Administration has spent the last few months trying to cut off all avenues of transparency to the White House, refusing to release visitor logs, keeping Trump’s schedule opaque, limiting the information in readouts of calls to foreign leaders, refusing to hold a presidential press conference since February, and even demanding journalists do not record the administration’s daily press briefings. The Trump Administration may complain all day about leaks, but leaks are increasingly the only way the American public can learn what the administration is really doing. And the news value of these transcripts could not be more obvious: They showed Trump did not know basic facts, that he asked a foreign leader to lie to the press for him, that he knew from the start that his signature campaign promise to “make Mexico pay for the wall” was bogus, and that he has no sense for how allies should cooperate with each other.
[Trevor Timm is the executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation.]
benton.org/headlines/why-arguments-against-wapos-oval-office-leaks-are-wrong | Columbia Journalism Review
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER REQUESTS INVESTIGATION OF BANNON
[SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, AUTHOR: Christina Wilkie]
A leading government ethics group requested that the White House, Department of Justice and Office of Government Ethics investigate presidential strategist Stephen Bannon for using a private public relations executive to conduct official White House business. The complaint was prompted by a Center for Public Integrity investigation that detailed Bannon’s unorthodox arrangement with veteran Republican strategist Alexandra Preate — one that may violate federal laws. “Veteran Republican media strategist Alexandra Preate is providing professional services to the White House and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, yet is not employed by President Donald Trump’s administration or paid by the federal government,” wrote Lawrence Noble and Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington (DC). The letter, sent Aug 4 and addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Office of Government Ethics Acting Director David Apol and newly hired White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, asks the officials to “exercise the appropriate authority to investigate, prosecute, or make recommendations regarding potential violations of federal laws and regulations.”
benton.org/headlines/campaign-legal-center-requests-investigation-steve-bannon | Center for Public Integrity
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

HOUSE COMMERCE DEMS ON NN
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
Eleven House Commerce Committee Democratic Reps submitted public comments on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to roll back network neutrality regulations stating that the proposal fundamentally and profoundly run counter to the law. The lawmakers wrote that the FCC’s proposal misstates the distinction Congress made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 between telecommunications services and information services. The Committee Democrats also wrote that the proposal ignores the most critical issues affecting our country today—priorities such as free speech and democracy, small businesses, jobs and economic development, and privacy. Instead, the Commission narrowly focused on a single ill-conceived measure of broadband investment to the exclusion of all others. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to undo the rules "impermissibly ignores the Commission’s core mandate to fully consider the public interest before taking action," violating the commission's obligations under the Communications Act, the Democrats wrote in an FCC filing opposing Pai's plan. The lawmakers also questioned Pai's independence from President Donald Trump. The FCC comment was submitted by House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Joe Kennedy III (D-MA).
benton.org/headlines/house-commerce-democrats-submit-comments-net-neutrality-plan-proposal-fundamentally | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | read the filing | ars technica
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REPS PALLONE, DOYLE PROVIDE GOP 8 WITNESSES FOR SEPT NN HEARING
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) wrote to Republican Committee leaders with a list of eight additional witnesses that they say should be added for the full committee hearing on the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality hearing. The two Democratic Committee leaders wrote that it is the responsibility of the Minority to balance the panel of witnesses at hearings before the committee. Reps Pallone and Doyle have selected the following individuals to be invited to testify:
Jonathan Jackson is a co-founder and the Head of Corporate Branding for Blavity.
Ruth Livier is an actress, writer, and doctoral student who is a pioneer in the fight for equal representation in media.
Jesse Vollmar is co-founder and CEO of FarmLogs,
Myrna Morales is an expert in library science in Boston.
Johari Farrar is a performer with the Truthworker Theater Company.
Brandi Collins is the Senior Campaign Director for Media and Economic Justice at Color of Change.
Steven Renderos is the Organizing Director at the Center for Media Justice.
Bryan Mercer is the Executive Director of Media Mobilizing Project.
benton.org/headlines/reps-pallone-doyle-provide-gop-eight-witnesses-september-net-neutrality-hearing-ensure | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | read the letter
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OWNERSHIP

TRUMP FCC AND SINCLAIR
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Margaret Harding McGill, John Hendel]
Sinclair Broadcast Group is expanding its conservative-leaning television empire into nearly three-quarters of American households — but its aggressive takeover of the airwaves wouldn’t have been possible without help from President Donald Trump's chief at the Federal Communications Commission. Sinclair, already the nation’s largest TV broadcaster, plans to buy 42 stations from Tribune Media in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, on top of the more than 170 stations it already owns. It got a critical assist this spring from Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who revived a decades-old regulatory loophole that will keep Sinclair from vastly exceeding federal limits on media ownership. The change will allow Sinclair — a company known for injecting "must run" conservative segments into its local programming — to reach 72 percent of U.S. households after buying Tribune’s stations. That’s nearly double the congressionally imposed nationwide audience cap of 39 percent. The FCC and the company both say the agency wasn’t giving Sinclair any special favors by reviving the loophole, known as the “UHF discount,” which has long been considered technologically obsolete. But the Tribune deal would not have been viable if not for Pai’s intervention: Sinclair already reaches an estimated 38 percent of U.S. households without the discount, leaving it almost no room for growth. The loophole is a throwback to the days when the ultra-high-frequency TV spectrum — the part higher than Channel 13 — was filled with low-budget stations with often-scratchy reception over analog rabbit ears. That quality gap no longer exists in today's world of digital television.
benton.org/headlines/how-trumps-fcc-aided-sinclairs-expansion | Politico
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Analysis

August 2017

‘Fake news’? The Russia investigation is getting very, very real.

Sen Warren Blocks President Trump’s Pick for Antitrust Chief

Sen Blumenthal: DOJ 'weaponizing' leak laws

T-Mobile’s new Unlimited 55+ gives seniors a much-needed upgrade on cell service

Buyouts taken, voices lost at New York Times

August 7, 2017 (Leaks)

How Trump's FCC aided Sinclair's expansion

Reporters Not Being Pursued in Leak Investigations, Justice Dept. Says

Editorial: Don't make the press collateral damage in a war on leaks

Diversity debate divides Silicon Valley