December 2015

[Commentary ] Pundits, tabloids and bloggers have had Donald Trump on blast for quite some time now. But whether the Republican presidential front-runner likes to admit it or not, many journalists have been working very hard to remain neutral when covering him. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel belongs in that camp, yet even he is shaking his head publicly after Trump's call for the United States to block all Muslims from entering the country. "This is really not the country that I know," he said on MSNBC Dec 7. He continued: "The world sees the leading political candidate from one party making these kind of statements and still doing well and having these rallies...Those are going around the world right now, and people realize this person is leading in the polls."

Engel represents something bigger here -- the fact that the press is at a crossroads in its coverage of Trump's campaign. Trump's poll numbers suggest that he speaks for a not-insignificant chunk of the electorate; that alone means he should be handled like a viable presidential candidate. But even the most professional journalists have consciences, too. It looks to me like we'll be hearing from their little shoulder angels more often.

[Commentary] Recently, investigative journalists at the Intercept revealed that Securus, a nationwide provider of phone and video services to jails and prisons, suffered a massive security breach when someone obtained, and then leaked, records of more than 70 million phone calls by prisoners across the country, along with links to downloadable recordings of those calls. Securus has disclaimed responsibility for the breach and denies selling call recordings and information. During the week of Nov 30, the Federal Communications Commission issued a response.

Regardless, this incident raises important questions about whether Securus (and, by extension, other phone providers) is living up to its security promises or its legal obligations to protect its users’ data. As the agency charged with overseeing privacy protections for telecommunications consumers, the FCC has the authority and expertise to investigate these allegations of misconduct. The FCC should heed this wake-up call to thoroughly investigate these issues. As the agency responsible for protecting consumer privacy in telecommunications services, it’s up to the FCC to do right by all our data and investigate Securus -- because if companies can record confidential communications in prisons, they could do so anywhere.

Five House Democrats chided Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler over what they called his less than forthcoming testimony during parts of a House Commerce oversight in November. The signers -- Reps Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Bobby Rush (D-IL), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) -- told Chairman Wheeler while they appreciate his willingness to come to Congress, they are "concerned that at our most recent hearing you were unable to give complete responses to nearly half of the questions posed directly to you by Democratic members of the subcommittee." They added: "Our members take their oversight responsibilities very seriously, and they expect witnesses before the subcommittee to treat their testimony the same way."

Obviously, it's unusual for this kind of intraparty gripe to enter the public eye, but it's also clear that Chairman Wheeler was rather curt when responding to at least a few questions during the three-hour-long hearing. When asked by Rep Butterfield how the FCC will ensure that voice-only telecom service remains available for low-income consumers, for example, Rep Wheeler responded, "It's important."