A defamation lawsuit U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes brought against CNN was tossed out by a Manhattan judge on Friday. The lawsuit seeking over $435 million in damages was rejected by U.S. District […]
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called an effort by House Democrats to pressure cable providers into removing Fox News and other conservative networks a “chilling transgression” of free speech, and asked his colleagues on the commission to denounce the lawmakers.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook confirmed that they have agreed on amendments to proposed legislation to require the social network and Google to pay for Australian news that they feature. Facebook’s cooperation is a major victory in Australian efforts to make the two gateways to the Internet pay for the journalism that they use.
“Our country’s public discourse is plagued by misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies” says a letter from Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was sent to Comcast, AT&T, Amazon, Apple, Verizon, Charter, Hulu and Roku.
Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland said Monday that he will be a strong enforcer of antitrust law as “the charter of American economic liberty” and expects to need more resources to do so. He was testifying at his Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing.
The House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee plans to hold a series of hearings on proposed bills to rein in “the rise and abuse of market power online” and adjust antitrust laws accordingly. Both Republicans and Democrats have concerns that antitrust laws were not nimble enough to capture Web giants’ efforts to buy start-up competitors before they became full-fledged competition and, importantly for antitrust law, before they triggered Hart Scott Rodino automatic antitrust reviews.
Exclusives
Acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel didn’t make any big news at her first post-meeting press conference Wednesday, but she did confirm that she is still a fan of net neutrality rules and no fan of the Trump Administration petition to the FCC to regulate social media using Sec. 230.
A coalition of trade organizations filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Maryland state government over passage of a bill that imposes a tax on digital ad revenue. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Internet Association, sued Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D). CCIA’s members include Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google and Uber.
Broadcasters want to get a cut of those billions of dollars in the Emergency Broadband Benefit established by legislation passed last December. The bill provides for $3.2 billion in subsidies to be handed out by the FCC over a six-month period. The FCC has been seeking comment on how to set up that program, including how best to promote awareness of the program in the community. NAB is telling the FCC that TV and radio advertising is particularly effective both because they are ubiquitous and because over-the-air broadcasting over-indexes for the eligible population — households with incomes below $50,000.
Move over social media, traditional media like broadcasting and cable are now in Congress’ sights for what top Democrats say is those media outlets’ role in “promoting disinformation and extremism,” suggesting […]
We can begin to glean at least the outlines of what happened when Donald Trump met the law that the late New York Times columnist William Safire said “has done more to inhibit the abuse of Government power… than any legislation in our lifetime.” The results of that clash are as revealing about the 45th president as they are about FOIA.
Free Speech Insurance: An Idea That Could Even Help The Oscars
Michael Cieply: Good free speech coverage would pay if you are fired, suspended, banned from professional status or otherwise deprived of income or community standing for voicing a thought that bothers someone else.
Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro contend that they were well within the bounds of First Amendment protection as they covered ultimately false claims that Smartmatic rigged the election results against Donald Trump.
It seems like whenever Democrats are elected to serve as President and take control of Congress, there is talk about the revival of the Fairness Doctrine as some panacea for restoring balance and civility to political debate. Let’s a take look back at just what that doctrine required, the reasons for its demise and some of the issues that would surround any attempt to bring it back.
More fans of network neutrality rules, including Common Cause and the Benton Institute, have asked the FCC to return its bright-line rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, saying eliminating those rules has damaged connectivity at a time —during the COVID-19 pandemic — when connectivity is a key public interest priority.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) last week proposed an amendment to a budget bill that would prohibit the merger of some Big Tech companies by presumptively preventing any merger or acquisitions involving a “market-dominant online platform.” That would mean the dominant player would have to affirmatively show that a merger or purchase was not anticompetitive.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned news network files a motion to dismiss Smartmatic’s blockbuster libel action. Now and down the road, the defendant will attempt to pin ultimate responsibility for wild tales of election fraud on Donald Trump and his lawyers.
Acting Democratic FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel released a video today celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act featuring a virtual gathering some of the major players in that landmark legislation, with a heavy emphasis on the Democrats instrumental in its passage and implementation.
The Fairness Doctrine Sounds A Lot Better Than It Actually Was
The poorly understood history of the Fairness Doctrine shows not only that reinstating it won’t fix current political media crises, but also that it won’t be the check on conservative media’s worst offenses that so many want it to be.
Defamation cases have made waves across an uneasy right-wing media landscape, from Fox to Newsmax.
President Biden, seeking ways to advance his agenda in a cluttered media landscape, is set to revive a presidential tradition that faded under his predecessor: the weekly radio address. The Biden version is not exactly just a man and his microphone. White House press aides said that some installments could follow a traditional president-talks-to-the-people format, but that they were also planning to pair Biden with everyday Americans and other guests, recreating the informal style of popular podcasts. “We expect it to take on a variety of forms,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Friday.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) has written to Cox Media Group saying it should restore its stations to DirecTV ASAP and suggesting the broadcaster is not negotiating in good faith as the FCC requires.
The microphone maker’s petition argues the wireless microphone community needs clear spectrum now more than ever, as the 600 MHz band has been reallocated to mobile phone use and the DTV repack has moved many TV stations into the 500 MHz spectrum.
Smartmatic USA said today that it filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp., threeof its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential election.
The incoming head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee favors broad changes as Democrats press the issue of perceived monopoly power.
Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks said it has “resolved and withdrawn” its lawsuit against Charter Communications. The one-sentence joint statement from Entertainment Studios and Charter did not elaborate on whether Allen’s TV channels would now be carried by Charter or if any money changed hands.
