After more than seven decades practicing law, Sidley Austin senior counsel Newt Minow, who will turn 96 next month, still sounds as enthusiastic about the work as a starry-eyed first-year associate. A lion of the bar, Minow was chairman of the FCC during the Kennedy administration. At a 1961 speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, he memorably called television “a vast wasteland.” (The shipwrecked SS Minnow of Gilligan’s Island later was named after him in sarcastic homage.)
A Delaware Superior Court judge denied a Fox News motion to dismiss a massive $1.6 billion lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems that alleges the news outlet made false claims about the company’s actions and influence on the 2020 presidential election. In a decision released Thursday afternoon, the court found Fox News’ defenses did not warrant the case being dismissed.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel made it clear to Republican lawmakers before her successful confirmation vote (68-31) earlier this month to a new, five-year term that she did not support efforts by “some liberal organizations” to remove conservative cable channels from their lineups or for the agency to use its license revocation power on broadcasters. That assertion came in written answers to questions submitted after her confirmation hearing last month.
Signaling a crackdown on data practices, the Federal Trade Commission has taken the first steps toward crafting new privacy regulations. The agency quietly said in a recent regulatory filing that it was considering “initiating a rulemaking under section 18 of the FTC Act to curb lax security practices, limit privacy abuses, and ensure that algorithmic decision-making does not result in unlawful discrimination.” The filing said the FTC was at the “prerule” stage, and indicated that the next step in the rulemaking process would occur in February.
The Senate Commerce Committee has voted to approve the nomination of open internet advocate Alan Davidson, a longtime executive with Mozilla and Google before that, to head the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. Three Republicans voted against the nomination: John Thune (S.D.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Tim Scott (S.C.).
Exclusives
The items include encouraging broadcast and cable to use Internet-delivered emergency warnings.
An auction of construction permits for 27 new TV stations is scheduled to occur in June 2022. This will be the first auction of new TV channels in over a decade — and the first in more than 15 years that includes UHF channels that are considered better suited for digital transmissions.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, AP Executive Editor Julie Pace urged the agency to explain why the name of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Martha Mendoza was run through the databases and identified as a potential confidential informant during the Trump administration, as detailed in a report by Homeland Security’s inspector general.
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a conservative think tank over Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to exclude the group’s writers from press briefings.
For the entirety of President Biden’s term, the FCC has operated without a Democratic majority, hobbling the party’s ability to carry out its agenda on major issues, including net neutrality and Internet connectivity. Now, delays to FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s confirmation, the appointment that would break the 2-2 split at the agency, mean the deadlock likely will extend into next year.
In another blow to her prospects, the Fraternal Order of Police has come out in strong opposition to Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s nomination to be an FCC commissioner over the issue of encryption and law enforcement access to information.
A special Customs and Border Protection unit used sensitive government databases intended to track terrorists to investigate as many as 20 U.S.-based journalists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press reporter, according to a federal watchdog.
The Biden White House, plagued by low approval ratings that have weakened the president’s clout and raised fears among Democrats over next year’s midterms, is blaming the media for some of its problems.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has called on Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to immediately launch an investigation of “recent revelations and public documentation” that it had misled advertisers and the public in making claims about the “brand safety” and reach of its ads, which she said would violate the FTC’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive practices.
Smollett, the former Empire actor, was convicted Thursday on five of six charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself nearly three years ago and then lied to Chicago police about it.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum could face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced in a few months on the two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography.
More than 200 newspapers are suing Facebook and Google, alleging that the tech titans have unfairly manipulated the advertising market, siphoning away their revenue and crippling their businesses. The lawsuits are being filed on behalf of some 30 different companies.
Lawmakers of both parties came out swinging in a hearing on Wednesday with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, expressing deep skepticism and anger toward the company for not doing enough to protect young users.
One America News Network is pulling an about-face after the far-right news network seemed to endorse President Biden’s nomination of Gigi Sohn as an FCC commissioner. She received a surprising endorsement last month when OANN President Charles Herring published a letter supporting her. When asked on Tuesday if OAN supports the nomination, Herring’s father, OAN owner and founder Robert Herring, said: “There’s no way this company would ever support her, and no way I’ll ever let it happen. She shouldn’t be anywhere near the FCC as far as I’m concerned.”
Corn-Revere: Broadcasting Deserves Full 1st Amendment Protection, And Social Media Should Keep Theirs
Robert Corn-Revere, a veteran First Amendment attorney and former legal assistant to late FCC Commissioner James Quello, argues that the right case might just unlock FCC ownership restrictions and that social media platforms deserve no less protection from government censors and regulators than any of their predecessors.
Washington was quick to weigh in after the Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel to a new five-year term on the commission.
Today, Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm Jessica Rosenworcel’s re-appointment to the Federal Communications Commission, putting her in place to be the first official chair of the agency under President Biden. Rosenworcel will also be the first female chair in the 86-year history of the FCC.
A statement Monday from the Trump Media & Technology group said Nunes would serve as chief executive officer, beginning in January 2022. The company is preparing to launch a social media platform intended to rival competitors, including Twitter, which blocked Trump’s account in January following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.
The Senate voted Monday to invoke cloture and proceed to a vote on a new, five-year term for acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The final confirmation vote could come as early as today.
A spokesperson for Sen. Thom Tillis told Next TV late Monday that he will do his best to keep Democratic nominee Gigi Sohn off the FCC. “Senator Tillis is going to do everything he can to stop Gigi Sohn’s confirmation, including putting a hold,” Tillis’s communications director, Adam Webb, said in an email.
