Regulation

Nexstar is being sued by a South Carolina man who says one of its stations falsely represented him as “an accused child predator.” Douglas Turner claims Nexstar-owned WSPA Greenville, S.C., used his photo instead of the suspect’s on air and in a story shared on the station’s website and Facebook page. Turner alleges the article and TV story were published “with malice or with reckless disregard for the truth.”

The White House released the competition executive order signed by the President Friday afternoon (July 9) and it does a lot of encouraging of the FCC, an independent agency, to take a number of regulatory actions including restoring net neutrality rules. Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel was at the signing ceremony, but she will need a third Democratic commissioner if she plans to follow the president’s lead. (President Biden cannot order any particular action by an independent agency, but he basically sent the signal he was looking for cooperation.)

The order also seeks to take aim at tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon by calling for greater scrutiny of mergers, “especially by dominant internet platforms, with particular attention to the acquisition of nascent competitors, serial mergers, the accumulation of data, competition by ‘free’ products, and the effect on user privacy.”

The White House led off an infrastructure promotion fact sheet distributed to the media Thursday (July 8) with the impact of a bipartisan framework on high-speed internet, particularly in rural and tribal areas, and President Joe Biden’s pledge to get broadband into every home. The Biden administration also doubled down on its definition of availability as including speed and price.

The American Television Alliance said the FCC was right to propose fining Gray Television a half-million dollars for violating, as the FCC alleged, the commission’s local ownership rules. The commission, for the first time, has proposed fining an affiliation purchase for resulting in what it said was a violation of its prohibition on owning two of the top-four rated TV stations in a market.

In a meeting with a top adviser to acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel last week, microphone maker Shure urged the FCC to act on its petition to reopen the FCC’s vacant channel proceeding, issue a further notice of proposed rulemaking to update the record, and then designate a channel for mics in each market to “ameliorate the significant loss of UHF spectrum wireless microphones have experienced as a result of the broadcast incentive auction.”

In a first for an acquisition of a network affiliation, the FCC says Gray Television has “willfully and repeatedly” violated the commission’s prohibition on owning two of the top-four rated full-power TV stations in a market. The FCC has proposed a half-million-dollar fine. The commission said that the proposed fine stemmed from its acquisition of the CBS affiliation of KTVA — which went dark — when it already owned NBC affiliate KTUU, both in Anchorage, Alaska.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday claimed the National Security Agency leaked some of his private emails to journalists. Carlson made the allegation during a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria.

Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, along with the companies’ CEOs, at a press conference in New Jersey on Wednesday. He was joined by other plaintiffs in the suits, which were filed in federal court in Miami.

At the Supreme Court, today’s lonely dissenting opinion sometimes grows into tomorrow’s constitutional law. So take note of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s 11-page dissent on the last day of the just-completed term, in which he argues that the court should have heard a challenge to its 1964 landmark holding in New York Times v. Sullivan.

Comcast wants the FCC to issue a ruling that Nexstar should be attributed ownership of WPIX New York , which would make it in violation of the commission’s 39% cap on broadcast national audience reach. The cable operator claims Nexstar’s divestiture of the station to meet FCC requirements in its acquisition of Tribune was a “sham.”

A number of unions have called on President Biden to name acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel to the permanent position, saying the commission is understaffed and has a lot of work to do that needs a full commission and a full-time chair. That came in a letter to the president citing her accomplishments and suggesting that there should be no further delay in naming a chair — and a third Democratic commissioner — given the big issues on the FCC’s plate.

The crackdown comes amid news of secret subpoenas of reporters’ phones. The first such charge came last week, when 43-year-old Shane Jason Woods of Illinois was charged with engaging in violence on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6, as well as assaulting a law enforcement officer. Authorities say Woods was caught on video knocking down a cameraman.

As part of a settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Fox also agreed to mandate anti-harassment training for its New York-based staff and contributors and to temporarily allow people who allege misconduct under human rights law to bring claims and not be subject to binding arbitration.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to expand the regulatory agency’s enforcement powers, a signal of Democratic commissioners’ willingness to crack down on alleged anti-competitive behavior. The Democratic-controlled commission voted 3-2 along party lines to repeal a 2015 policy statement that blocked the regulatory agency from challenging “unfair methods of competition” that don’t violate existing antitrust laws.

Ex-Fox News Host Ed Henry filed two more defamation lawsuits Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, naming NPR’s David Folkenflik and CNN’s Alysin Camerota and Brian Stelter (as well as their CNN parent, TBS) for their allegedly defamatory commentary and reporting on his firing by Fox News. The filings follow a similar lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York against Fox News and the channel’s CEO Suzanne Scott. That lawsuit also alleged defamation.

It would fine companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter if they permanently bar candidates for office in the state.

Amazon formally asked the Federal Trade Commission to block recently appointed agency chair Lina Khan — an outspoken critic of Amazon and other tech giants — from participating in antitrust reviews involving the company because she has shown a demonstrable bias against Amazon. Amazon on Wednesday filed a motion with the FTC requesting Khan’s recusal.

Pennsylvania’s highest court has overturned comedian Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction. The court said Wednesday that they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.

Mack — best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series Smallville — had previously pleaded guilty to the charges and began cooperating against NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. Prosecutors credited her with helping them mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials. Above, Mack, center, leaves federal court with her mother Mindy Mack after being sentenced, Wednesday, June 30.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to consider whether a Texas city’s restrictions on digital billboards runs afoul of the First Amendment. Like most Texas cities, Austin only allows digital billboard ads on the advertisers’ premises. The city has said the regulations aim to preserve the local landscape, and further road safety by limiting distractions. Austin doesn’t impose similar restrictions on non-digital billboards.

A federal judge’s dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook is posing the first big test for President Biden’s new FTC Chair Lina Khan. But the renowned big tech critic faces a serious time crunch, with less than 30 days to try and shift the momentum through a revamped lawsuit.

The approval should be good for four years, but the EU Commission warned it will revoke that if it discerns problems threatening EU citizens’ data privacy rights