Lauren Frayer

"Net neutrality is not simply about technology," said Steven Renderos, Organizing Director at the Center for Media Justice. "It's about the everyday people who use it and whether they will have the right to be heard online. Two years ago, the [Federal Communications Commission] affirmed that everyone, regardless of class or race, deserves access to a media platform that does not discriminate."

Without net neutrality, these corporate giants could slow down or even block rival services, not to mention the next generation of startups that depend on internet freedom. If these broadband titans are allowed the right to stifle online creativity and entrepreneurship, it could snuff out the very engine of innovation that has generated billions of dollars of US economic activity and created millions of jobs.

A Q&A with attorney Floyd Abrams, who represented the New York Times in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case and went on to become America's leading First Amendment litigator.

Asked, "Shortly after the election, you said Donald Trump 'may be the greatest threat to the First Amendment since the passage of the Sedition Act of 1798.' Why is he a threat?" Abrams responded, "I don’t think we’ve had anyone who ran for the presidency in a manner which suggested the level of hostility to the press than did Donald Trump. And we certainly haven’t had any president who has made as a central element of his presentation while in office a critique of such venom and threat as we’ve heard in the last month. Now, we don’t know how much is talk and what if anything he may do as president apart from the impact of his words. That in and of itself is important. Any effort to delegitimize the press as a whole and any recitation of statements such the one just a few days ago, saying that the press “is the enemy of the American people,” itself raises serious issues even if he never took any legal steps against the press. Words matter. And the words of the president matter particularly. So a president that basically tells the people that the press is its enemy is engaged in a serious—and deliberately serious—threat to the legitimacy of the press and the role it plays in American society."

In his first month, Sean Spicer has led press briefings by digging in to talking points, sparring with reporters on challenging follow-ups, and shifting the way business is done inside the briefing room — whether the media likes it or not. Who gets called on? According to an analysis by Independent Journal Review, in the first month of the Trump administration, Spicer chose to call on Fox News and affiliate national networks (Fox Business Network, Fox News Radio) more than any other outlet. How long are the briefings? According to an analysis of Sean Spicer's first month of White House press briefings, on average, Spicer's briefings lasted 43 minutes. While these briefings are shorter than those held by Obama administration press secretaries, they tended to be longer than those held by George W. Bush administration officials.

President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for protests against him and Republican lawmakers at recent town halls, as well as for leaks from the White House. “I think President Obama’s behind it, because his people are certainly behind it,” Trump said. “And some of the leaks possibly come from that group. You know, some of the leaks, which are really very serious leaks, because they’re very bad in terms of national security, but I also understand that’s politics. And in terms of him being behind things, that’s politics, and it will probably continue.”

President Donald Trump says that he tweets to "get around the dishonest media," and if he felt all or most of the media were honest, he wouldn't do it. Asked if there was a method to his tweeting or whether he was just letting off steam, the President suggested it was neither. "No method, really. It's just—it's not venting either…" he said. "But it does allow me to go around dishonest media. I don't have to go around you folks. I don't have to go around a lot of the media. But I do have to go around some media. And it does allow me to do that because the following is so large, between Twitter and Facebook and all of the different things. I have so many millions of people, it allows me to give a message without necessarily having to go through people where I'm giving them a message and they're putting it down differently from what I mean."

Hours before delivering his first joint address to both houses of Congress, President Doanld Trump offered a candid assessment of the job his administration has done in explaining his policies to the American people. Asked to grade his job performance thus far in his presidency, Trump offered high marks for his accomplishments, but he gave himself a “C” for messaging, conceding that he has not been able to properly explain what he's done. "In terms of messaging, I would give myself a C or a C plus,” Trump said. “In terms of achievement, I think I'd give myself an A. Because I think I've done great things, but I don't think I have — I and my people, I don't think we've explained it well enough to the American public.”

[Commentary] Around the world, media outlets are taking millions of dollars from private donors and foundations in order to pay for news. But in a world where news credibility has become a burning issue and government leaders in Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, and the US (among others) have gone on the attack against journalism, the question of funding sources and the effect they have on media independence is an important one.

Funding quality journalism and giving reporters the resources to carry out important work is critical. Many of the publications that receive donor funds uncover important stories overlooked by mainstream publications, and many wouldn’t exist without foundations. But as donor-media relationships increase and with it editorial influence by foundations, it’s crucial to have a thorough understanding of how this financial model influences news coverage. Best practices may help to make the model of donor funding media better for both sides and help protect independent media.

[Anya Schiffrin is the director of the Technology, Media and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. ]

When you cross into or out of the United States, whether in a car or at an airport, you enter a special zone where federal agents have unusual powers to search your belongings—powers they don’t have elsewhere in the country. The high standard set by the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable searches, is lowered, and the Fifth Amendment, which guards against self-incrimination and prevents the government from demanding computer passwords or smartphone PINs, is rendered less effective. The rules around what information can be retained after Customs and Border Protection inspections—and for how long—aren’t entirely clear-cut.

In a sign that President Donald Trump’s criticism of the news media may be having a ripple effect overseas, a government spokesman in Cambodia has cited the American leader in threatening to shutter foreign news outlets, including some that receive money from Washington. The spokesman, Phay Siphan, said that foreign news groups, including the United States-financed Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, should “reconsider” how they broadcast — or risk a government response if their reports are deemed to spread disinformation or threaten peace and stability.

The White House decision to bar several news outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and Politico, from a briefing last week, Phay Siphan said in a Facebook post, “sends a clear message” that President Trump “sees that news broadcast by those media outlets does not reflect the truth, which is the responsibility of professional journalists.” “Freedom of expression,” he wrote, “is subject to the law and must respect the state’s power.”

Ward Chamberlin Jr., a leading architect of the nation’s public broadcasting system who revitalized PBS stations in New York and Washington and nurtured the career of the documentarian Ken Burns, died in Bedford (MA). He was 95.

Chamberlin’s four-decade television career began circuitously. A corporate lawyer at the time, he was working for the nonprofit International Executive Service Corps, where Frank Pace, a former Army secretary, was the president. When Pace was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be the first chairman of the newly minted Corporation for Public Broadcasting early in 1968, he recruited Chamberlin to join him as chief operating officer. Pace promptly asked Chamberlin to determine what challenges and opportunities public broadcasting presented and gave him the latitude to meet them. Chamberlin proceeded to pioneer an enduring decentralized network model of independent public stations. He remained chief operating officer until he retired in 2003. He was also senior vice president of the Public Broadcasting Service, executive vice president and managing director of WNET in New York and president of WETA in Washington, which he transformed into the third most prolific producer of original programming after WNET and WGBH in Boston.