March 2017

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that the agency is studying restrictions on media ownership, characterizing a number of the rules as “quite antiquated.” In an interview with Variety, Chairman Pai said that an easing of such restrictions “is one of the issues that is under consideration. We haven’t made any firm determinations there, either.” Many broadcasters have championed the idea of lifting restrictions that limit the number of stations that one entity can own.

Also, in October, President Donald Trump said that he opposed the proposed merger of AT&T with Time Warner, saying that it was too much “power in the hands of too few.” A campaign adviser, Peter Navarro, now director of the National Trade Council, promised that Trump “will break up the new media conglomerate oligopolies that have gained enormous control over our information, intrude into our personal lives.” “We are studying the issue,” Chairman Pai said. “But what I can tell you is that having worked on that question [of media ownership] for a quite a while, I do think that a number of media ownership rules have become quite antiquated.” Asked whether he agreed that there was a problem with media concentration, Pai said that “we obviously have to take a case-by-case look as to the competitive landscape, and so it really depends on the geographic market, the product and service market that we are talking about. If it is a transaction that is involved, what are the competitive implications of the confirmation of that transaction? And so it is hard to opine in the abstract about a situation like that.”

Numerous high-profile Twitter accounts were hacked March 15 to display Nazi swastikas and messages supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Some of the more prominent accounts that were hacked included BBC North America, Reuters Japan, Forbes Magazine and Justin Bieber Japan. Many of the compromised account holders have regained control of their profiles according to tweets sent out after the hacks. The tweets from compromised accounts bear the hashtags #NaziHollanda or #Nazialmanya.

President Donald Trump slammed NBC News early March 15 for releasing two pages of his 2005 tax forms, questioning a reporter's version of how he obtained the documents. "Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, 'went to his mailbox' and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!" the President tweeted.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow spent 20 minutes March 14 teasing what questions President Trump’s tax returns could answer, including potential ties to Russian banks and to corrupt Azerbaijani businessmen. David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, said on MSNBC that he received the tax forms in his mailbox. Johnston on March 15 fired back at Trump's tweet. "Gee, Donald, your White House confirmed my story. POTUS fake Tweet. Sad!" Johnston tweeted.

The allegations that Verizon has failed to build out to nearly a million New York City households it is obligated to serve are troubling. Although new broadband deployments are costly and time intensive, broadband providers have a responsibility to comply with their franchise agreements. Moreover, it is imperative that modernization of the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure provide an upgrade for all.

While there is disagreement between New York City and Verizon regarding whether the company has met its deployment commitments, this dispute highlights the ongoing need for policymakers to clearly define what they mean when describing the availability of broadband service. There is widespread bipartisan support for promoting broadband deployment to unserved and underserved areas in any federal infrastructure legislation. Lawmakers should ensure that households and multi-dwelling unit buildings are actually able to subscribe to broadband services that are ‘available’ to them, and that ‘availability' includes service options that are affordable for even low-income consumers. It would be easier to achieve this affordability if, for instance, landlords didn’t prohibit the installation of competing service provider equipment in residences due to contracts with existing service providers. This practice harms consumers and competition by driving up costs and needlessly delaying the technology transitions.