Research

Political divides in the American news landscape do not end with Americans’ preferences for different news sources; rather, they extend to how members of the U.S. Congress communicate with constituents in the digital age. Between January 2015 and July 2017, nearly half (48%) of the links to national news outlets that members of Congress shared on Facebook were to outlets predominantly linked to by members of just one party, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

[Commentary] Why are we talking about digital inclusion and equity now in a way that is different from, say, eight years ago? The obvious answer – very different presidential administrations – only touches the surface. Consumers are adopting digital tools like never before and, in some segments of the U.S., we’ve reached a “tech abundance” threshold that is driving a bottom-up interest in digital inclusion in many communities. Tech abundance doesn’t mean that everyone in society has adopted digital tools.

• Since November 28, cable news has given net neutrality minimal coverage: approximately four minutes each on CNN and Fox News and more than eight minutes on MSNBC.
• Since November 28, broadcast news networks have given net neutrality minimal coverage on their morning and evening news programs and Sunday political talk shows: more than eight minutes on NBC and a little more than two minutes on CBS. ABC did not cover net neutrality in this time period.

Shoring up the notion that home internet service penetration is plateauing, about 84% of US homes now get that service, up 1% from 2012’s levels, and up from 74% in 2007, Leichtman Research Group found in a new broadband-focused study.

If all you knew about black families was what national news outlets reported, you are likely to think African Americans are overwhelmingly poor, reliant on welfare, absentee fathers and criminals, despite what government data show, a new study says.  Major media outlets routinely present a distorted picture of black families — portraying them as dependent and dysfunctional — while white families are more likely to be depicted as sources of social stability, according to the report released Dec 13 by the racial justice organization Color of Change.

More than 80 percent of voters oppose the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to repeal its net neutrality rules, according to a new poll from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation. The survey presented respondents with detailed arguments from both supporters and opponents of the repeal plan, before asking them where they stood on the rules. It found that 83 percent overall favored keeping the FCC rules, including 75 percent of Republicans, 89 percent of Democrats and 86 percent of independents.

The Wall Street Journal has uncovered thousands of fraudulent comments on regulatory dockets at federal agencies, some using what appear to be stolen identities posted by computers programmed to pile comments onto the dockets. After sending surveys to nearly 1 million people—predominantly from the FCC docket—the Journal found a much wider problem than previously reported, including nearly 7,800 people who told the Journal comments posted on federal dockets in their names were fakes.

On the eve of a pivotal vote that would deregulate the broadband industry, a fresh survey from the University of Maryland shows that large majorities of Americans — including 3 out of 4 Republicans — oppose the government's plan to repeal its network neutrality rules for Internet providers.

An open internet provides a bedrock on which local news providers can build stable, accessible, and independent structures. Net Neutrality will not solve the problems facing local news. Doing so will require hard work and ingenuity from journalists, community members, entrepreneurs, and local governments. But net neutrality gives those actors the space to try and solve these problems. In a world without net neutrality, that space will shrink. 

On Thursday, December 7th, five internet service providers alleged to Chairman Pai that the current legal framework for Open Internet rules had curtailed their investment and harmed their operations. While the presentations are rife with vague statements and outright errors, there is one thing notably absent from all of them: dollar signs, deployment data, and any other quantifiable metric demonstrating the supposed impact of Title II.