Policymakers

Newly minted Republican Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr was among the public officials to make a definitive statement denouncing the white nationalists behind a deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. "These racists & white nationalists have only evil as their pedigree. Sickening," he wrote in a tweet. "It will always be beaten as justice & equality will prevail." FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry also slammed the "hatred, bigotry, and white nationalism on display in Charlottesville" in a post, which was later shared by Chairman Ajit Pai. A number of Republicans - including Sens. Cory Gardner (CO), Ted Cruz (TX) and Orrin Hatch (UT) - have spoken up against the white supremacist groups behind the rally, where a woman was killed after a car rammed through a crowd of counter-protesters. President Donald Trump has been criticized for failing to specifically name and condemn the extremists in his remarks.

The Federal Communications Commission is back at full strength. Brendan Carr has been sworn in as the newest member of the Republican majority and Jessica Rosenworcel has rejoined the commission with a new, five-year term. Both Carr and Rosenworcel were confirmed by the Senate last week. “I congratulate Brendan and Jessica on their swearing in and welcome them to the FCC as Commissioners," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "I’m pleased that the Commission is once again at full capacity. They will be valuable assets to the FCC, and I look forward to collaborating with them to close the digital divide, promote innovation, protect consumers, and improve the agency’s operations.”

I congratulate Brendan and Jessica on their swearing in and welcome them to the FCC as Commissioners. I’m pleased that the Commission is once again at full capacity. They will be valuable assets to the FCC, and I look forward to collaborating with them to close the digital divide, promote innovation, protect consumers, and improve the agency’s operations.

It is a tremendous honor and privilege to serve as a Commissioner of the FCC. I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me and to the United States Senate for confirming me to serve the American public in this capacity. I have had the privilege of working at the agency for over five years, and that experience has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the FCC’s work and its talented staff. Whether it is promoting broadband deployment, maintaining the United States’ leadership in wireless, or advancing public safety, I look forward to hitting the ground running and working with my colleagues at the Commission to serve the public interest.

I am honored and humbled to enjoy the privilege and responsibility of returning to serve as a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. I firmly believe that the future belongs to the connected. No matter who you are or where you live, you need access to modern communications to have a fair shot at 21st century success. That’s why the Commission’s work is so important and I thank the President and the United States Senate for this opportunity. I pledge to fight to make sure that the public interest is served and everyone across this country has access to the best, most reliable communications in the world. I look forward to working with my fellow Commissioners and the exceptionally talented staff of the Federal Communications Commission.

[Commentary] Joe McCarthy loved to savage reporters, singling them out by name at his rallies in the 1950s. The Republican senator from Wisconsin knew the work of each reporter who covered his years-long campaign aimed at rooting out the communists who were supposedly seeded throughout the federal government. Then, moments after leaving the stage, McCarthy would sidle up to a reporter he’d just finished flaying and toss an arm around him: “That was just good fun.” Reporters who’ve covered Donald Trump anytime in the past four decades know that sense of whiplash all too well.

President Trump and McCarthy share a populist, demagogic speaking style and a propensity to say anything to win the moment. The two men are often compared because they both aggressively hit back at their critics and tended to inflate minor slights or partisan rows into threats against the nation. But their similarities go deeper: Both won and cemented support by using, attacking and foiling the news media. Both deployed a crazy quilt of behavior to demand news coverage — and then stomped on those same organizations as disloyal liars conspiring against them. And both enjoyed extended periods of popularity even amid reporting about their erratic behavior and tendency to say things that weren’t true. In the end, McCarthy fell from grace, but journalism alone wasn’t enough to end his destructive crusade. The news reporting about McCarthy’s excesses did over time diminish his popular support, but ultimately that souring of sentiment had to filter up from the public to their elected representatives. It took years, but McCarthy was finally held to account.

[Commentary] There is a long-standing tradition in American politics that when your term of office is over, you retreat quietly into the background and allow a tasteful period of time to pass before you get back into the arena. Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, however, does not appear to have bought into that tradition. Wheeler, apparently unhappy about the efforts of his successor, Ajit Pai, to undo the former chairman's signature regulatory enactment— the imposition of legacy common carrier price regulation on the internet—has continued to advocate for the survival of the regulatory structures he instituted while in office. It is difficult to see how the former chairman's internet policy is likely to make broadband services more available, better, or cheaper.

Whatever the role the FCC has to play in the modern communications market, Wheeler's retrogressive regulatory approach is counterproductive. America appears now to be suffering the consequences of it. If, as the data appear to suggest, Wheeler's signature regulatory contribution has cost the nation billions in network investment, reduced employment by 100,000 telecommunications jobs per year, and slowed improvements in broadband quality, it is incumbent on his successor to press forward with the clean-up hastily. Happily, Chairman Pai appears intent on doing precisely that. The sooner the broadband industry gets to say, “good riddance” to the Wheeler FCC's Title II regulatory regime, the better.

[Ford is Chief Economist of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies]

When the Federal Communications Commission went looking this year for experts to sit on an advisory committee regarding deployment of high-speed internet, Gary Carter thought he would be a logical choice. Carter works for the city of Santa Monica, California, where he oversees City Net, one of the oldest municipal-run networks in the nation. The network sells high-speed internet to local businesses, and uses the revenue in part to connect low-income neighborhoods. That experience seemed to be a good match for the proposed Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), which FCC Chairman Ajit Pai created. One of the panel’s stated goals is to streamline city and state rules that might accelerate installation of high-speed internet. But one of the unstated goals, members say, is to make it easier for companies to build networks for the next generation wireless technology, called 5G. The advanced network, which promises faster speeds, will require that millions of small cells and towers be erected nationwide on city- and state-owned public property. The assignment seemed to call out for participation from city officials like Carter, since municipal officials approve where and what equipment telecommunications companies can place on public rights of way, poles and buildings. But the FCC didn’t choose Carter — or almost any of the other city or state government officials who applied. Instead the FCC loaded the 30-member panel with corporate executives, trade groups and free-market scholars.

A prisoners' rights group has accused Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai of having a conflict of interest because he used to represent a prison phone company as a lawyer. Under Pai's direction, the FCC dropped its court defense of rules capping the intrastate phone rates charged to prisoners. The decision helped prison phone companies—including Pai's former client, Securus Technologies—continue to charge high prices. Pai "represented Securus as its attorney while employed as a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP, immediately preceding his confirmation as FCC Commissioner in May 2012," Human Rights Defense Center Executive Director Paul Wright wrote in a filing with the commission Aug 9.

Pai worked for Jenner & Block for about a year beginning in April 2011. With his decisions at the commission, "he has never stopped representing the interests of his client Securus Technologies," Wright argued. "Based on this conflict, we request that Mr. Pai recuse himself from all decisions involving Securus Technologies in particular and the Inmate Calling Services (ICS) industry in general, and that he disclose any financial interests in same." A spokesperson for Pai's office said that Pai's work was cleared by the FCC's ethics office and pointed out that the recusal requirement in federal government standards lasts only one year.

As a media correspondent for The Times, I cover the intersection of journalism and politics, a juncture that has seen its share of pileups in 2017. The president labeled the mainstream media “the enemy of the American people.” The White House briefing turned into a daily grudge match over the nature of transparency and truth. Alarms are sounding about an erosion of press freedoms once thought sacrosanct in a democracy. The White House press secretary plays a central role in that debate.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who at 34 is among the youngest people to hold the title, must manage the message of her administration and liaise with dozens of reporters, while also acting as a frequent vessel of President Donald Trump’s anti-media ire. “I’ve grown up with the press, in the press,” she told me, referring to her upbringing as the daughter of Mike Huckabee, the Republican former governor of Arkansas and a two-time presidential candidate. “I’ve never seen the level of hostility that this press corps has to the president.”