September 2019

Chairman Pai Appoints Evan Swarztrauber As Policy Advisor

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Evan Swarztrauber has joined his office as a Policy Advisor. Swarztrauber starts Sept 30 in his new role and replaces Nathan Leamer, who recently left the FCC. Swarztrauber previously worked for FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr as a Policy Advisor on media issues. He also hosts the FCC’s official podcast. Prior to joining the FCC, he was Director of Public Affairs at TechFreedom, managing the organization’s communications and outreach teams, and representing the organization in a diverse array of coalitions.

Where The 2020 Presidential Candidates Stand On Broadband Issues

Broadband is emerging as a critical campaign issue for the US 2020 presidential election, and there’s good reason: nearly 60 million people in the US do not have broadband service at home. Despite this staggering fact, only four of the 14 presidential candidates we looked at have released fleshed-out policy proposals to expand broadband access (all of them democrats). On the Democratic side, broadband has become a central piece to many rural revitalization plans but as mentioned, only four candidates have released detailed broadband proposals.

Journalists must make the shrinking free press a campaign issue

Media coverage of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns began in earnest well over a year ago — but it is not providing citizens with the news and information we need in order to cast informed ballots. We are two former Federal Communications Commission chairmen who believe one critical issue the media is avoiding is … the media itself. The high level of consolidation and corporatization that exists in the industry today speaks to media’s lack of interest in addressing the current shortfall in our news and information.