March 2018

Google and Facebook don't qualify for first amendment protections

[Commentary] Are Facebook and Google's practices of privileging certain information really analogous to what newspaper editors do, and therefore similarly protected by the First Amendment? The answer is no. Making decisions about what and how information is conveyed does not automatically make one an editor entitled to First Amendment protection. 

Chuck Todd: Transparency is The New Objectivity

Journalists gathered in Washington March 8 to honor their own and call for solidarity--and solid reporting rather than snarky reporting--in the face of attacks from the President.  That was one of the takeaways from Chuck Todd, moderator of NBC's Meet the Press at the Radio-Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) First Amendment awards. 

March 5-9, 2018
Weekly Digest

RAY BAUM Reporting for Broadband

You’re reading the Benton Foundation’s Weekly Round-up, a recap of the biggest (or most overlooked) telecommunications stories of the week. The round-up is delivered via e-mail each Friday.

Round-Up for the Week of March 5-9, 2018

How Russian Trolls Crept Into the Trump Campaign’s Facebook Messages

A review of the private Facebook messages, as well as interviews with the Trump campaign operatives who were targeted by Russians, reveal that Trump’s team was susceptible to Moscow’s interference campaign. It preyed on unsuspecting staff members who were more interested in capturing the enthusiasm of supporters of their unorthodox nominee and did not envision the seemingly far-fetched possibility that Russians might enlist them as unwitting players in a scheme to undermine American democracy.

UK's Ofcom opens net neutrality probe into Vodafone and Three

Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether Three and Vodafone, the UK telecoms operators, are “throttling” certain services on their networks in contravention of European Union rules on net neutrality. The investigation could have a profound impact on how telecoms groups across Europe manage traffic, and whether they continue to offer customers unlimited access to certain types of content — such as social media apps or music streaming services — on top of normal data usage restrictions.