Michael Copps

[Commentary] Word on the street is that the Trump Federal Communications Commission transition team has submitted its report to Administration higher-ups and that it has been largely or wholly accepted. What we know of its recommendations, which have not and may never be released as such, makes for awful news. It sounds like an always-on green light for more mergers and acquisitions than ever and for such a deregulatory approach that our media and telecommunications conglomerates will be encouraged to build out monopoly markets across the land. That means one-sixth of our economy will lack meaningful oversight to protect the common good, a.k.a. the public interest. Keep in mind that the transition report is mostly the product of inside-the-Beltway think tank “experts” working at the conservative, corporate-sponsored American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Likely it has also received the blessing of the even more conservative Heritage Foundation, whose leadership staunchly opposes almost everything promoting the common good. How strange that these inside, corporate-oriented elites are setting policy for all those voters in rural America and the Rust Belt who made the difference in Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory. Does anyone reading this really believe that those voters want higher cable bills and monopoly set-top boxes (averaging over $230 annually) even though the FCC has the power to open the market for much more affordable alternatives? Do all those good voters, hoping for something that represents real Populism, not Wall Street’s version, really want higher phone bills, more industry consolidation, second-rate broadband service, and an internet controlled by a handful of gatekeepers? I think not.

[Commentary] For democracy to survive, media must thrive — media that serve the people, provide the news and information we need to make informed decisions about the future of our country, understand their obligation to serve the public interest first and foremost, and help protect us from the depredations of monopoly and oligopoly markets. Central to this is an Internet that can support quality journalism. There is no viable model for this today, and most experts agree that the kind of investigative journalism that once thrived in traditional media like newspapers and TV has not transferred to the Internet, even while it disappears from the older media.

There may be fewer levers out there to push post-election, but the reality is we have never come close to pushing all the levers that already exist. You’re a lever; so are your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. So are whatever independent media left standing. So are local, state and national public interest groups. It’s time NOW to organize, coordinate and deploy these resources, and others, into battle. Share and write about your thoughts with anyone who will listen or read, seek out local and national decision-makers and let them know an open Internet and affordable communications aren’t partisan issues: they impact each and every one of us.

[Michael Copps is a former commissioner and acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, where he served from 2001–11. He serves on the board of Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund and is a special adviser to Common Cause.]

[Commentary] I believe the American people got pretty much the 2016 Presidential campaign coverage that Big Cable and Big Broadcasters wanted us to have. The elections made Big Media piles of money, required nothing from them in the way of resource-intensive investigative journalism, and were aimed spot-on to entertain, not to inform, us. Our civic dialogue descended into the gutter, literally, and politics turned into one big reality show extravaganza with little connection to the real business of democracy. And don’t think this was a one-time aberration. Without some serious changes to how our democracy conducts its civic dialogue, we can expect more of the same. 2016 is very likely the new norm.

[Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009. In 2012, he joined Common Cause to lead its Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.]

[Commentary] “Few rights are so fundamental as the right to privacy in our daily lives, yet few are under such frontal assault.” I penned those words 14 years ago, when I and my colleagues on the Federal Communications Commission were considering how best to protect telephone customers from expansive snooping and intrusive marketing practices. Today, I must reiterate this sentiment, and urge the FCC to immediately pass strong new rules to protect the privacy of broadband customers.

Broadband privacy is important for many of the same reasons that the FCC has ensured the privacy of telephone customers for decades. Broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) collect extensive information about all of their customers, including location, web browsing and app use history, when and with whom they communicate, and even the content of those communications. In short, nearly everything a consumer does online is visible to his or her ISP. ISPs need some of that information to provide service, but they also can exploit private details for profit, primarily through marketing. The FCC recently released a fact sheet on broadband privacy, and while it is a significant step forward, there remains the possibility that that intra-agency negotiations might consider alterations that would water-down the privacy regime and leave consumers without needed protections. The need of the hour is to strengthen, not weaken, the pending proposal. The FCC should adopt opt-in rules that more closely hew to Congress’s direction in Section 222 of the Communications Act that make clear telecommunications carriers have a duty to protect confidentiality of the proprietary information of their customers.

[Michael Copps is a retired FCC Commissioner, special advisor for Common Cause's Media and Democracy Reform Initiative, and contributor to the Benton Foundation's Digital Beat Blog.]

[Commentary] Maybe we asked for it. Perhaps as citizens we just can’t muster up the time and energy to delve into the issues that really matter. We can’t even seem to get to the polls in anything approaching credible numbers. When barely over 30% cast a ballot in the 2014 Congressional, state, and local elections, what’s happened to democracy’s vital juices? Voters in countries around the world turn out numbers in the 70th, 80th, even 90th percent ranges. Even in our Presidential elections, we pat ourselves on the back if we get to 55 percent. You could make Pogo’s case that we have met the enemy—and it is us. But is this skimpy democratic participation cause or is it effect? Is it only that we as citizens are short-changing our democracy? Or is someone giving us a helping hand? Even worse, is somebody else the even greater culprit? It’s no secret to readers of this space that I believe the declining state of our electoral campaigns, the news and information we are fed, and the collapse of investigative journalism have been fed by Big Media. The consolidation of media ownership in so few hands has decimated our civic and political dialogue. The billions and billions of dollars that the captains of Big Media must spend to consolidate their control leads directly, and most often immediately, to cutbacks in the newsroom, the wholesale shuttering of news bureaus, and the firing of almost a third of newsroom employees since just 2000—and it started before that.

[Michael Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009. In 2012, former Commissioner Copps joined Common Cause to lead its Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.]

[Commentary] The Internet is the 21st century’s marketplace, politically and economically; it’s where the next generation will do business and exchange ideas. That’s why it’s critical that Congress resist partisan efforts to gut the Federal Communications Commission’s recent action modernizing its Lifeline program to support broadband. For more than 30 years, the Lifeline program has enjoyed bipartisan support and helped low-income households buy telephone service. Beginning in December, barring hostile actions from Congress, qualifying households will be able to use their Lifeline dollars to offset the cost of broadband. Our children deserve access to this century’s public square.

[Michael Copps is a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission appointed by President George W. Bush, and a special adviser to Common Cause.]

[Commentary] So far 2016 has defied conventional wisdom and political history on many fronts. There are signs that even platform drafting might be affected. But so far we haven’t heard much on media policy. We ignore media policy at our own peril. An informed electorate is the essential foundation for successful self-government, and media are responsible for providing us with the news and information we need to make intelligent decisions for the country’s future. Media are a public good, as necessary to democracy’s life as oxygen is to an individual’s life. No candidate’s communications platform should be considered complete absent a discussion of the larger media issues I am discussing here. We should note that Senator Sanders has spoken often and eloquently about our country’s media shortfalls. Let’s hope the Democratic platform writers will yet heed his sage advice. Media policy matters. Regardless of which party wins, we need an administration and FCC that will hear the call of the people—and deliver. Protecting our wins—and extending them—requires policy-makers with the vision to grasp the media problem and the passion to fix it, the undue power and influence of Big Cable, Big Telecom, and Big Internet notwithstanding. Vision in communications policy is not giving each special interest group a tip of the hat here or a nod of the head there; it is about providing a program for the future of our all-important communications infrastructure. Quite simply there is no way we succeed as a nation without tackling the media challenge. As I have long maintained, no matter what issue motivates you most—job creation, economic inequality, equal rights for all, environmental protection, voting rights, or whatever—progress on these issues will remain unlikely until we have a communications ecosystem that truly informs the electorate. Communications reform really must be everyone’s priority. As for me, creating media that nourishes democracy remains my first priority. I hope it becomes yours, too. We all have responsibilities here: candidates for office, platform writers, the media, and—most importantly of all—ourselves.
[Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011; he’s now leads the Media and Democracy Reform Initiative at Common Cause]

[Commentary] While the nation is increasingly diverse, broadcasting remains mostly the province of white males. The number of Black-owned radio companies has dropped by more than 50 percent since 1995 and just 12 television stations — mostly in small markets — are Black owned. How did we get here? Like almost every industry, broadcasting historically has been dominated by white men. The Federal Communications Commission was 38 years old before it got its first Black member, in 1972; it did not get a Black chairman until 1997. Its policies generally have amplified this legacy of discrimination by allowing sweeping consolidation of media companies, further entrenching the status quo. As a practical matter, consolidation means far-away corporate owners more focused on the bottom line than on quality local journalism. And as media consolidation grows, people of color and women become less significant players in the media ecosystem.

We are deeply troubled by reports that the agency is poised to approve yet another Quadrennial Review without commissioning this research. That would spark more litigation and lead the courts to conclude, as they have three times now, that the agency must root its decisions in good social science. America’s strength is its diversity; we need to take advantage of it. Consigning communities of color and women to the sidelines in media programming, jobs, and ownership not only closes doors of opportunity for them, it weakens our society. It’s precisely the wrong way to go. We hope the FCC will choose better this time.

[Michael Copps is a retired FCC Commissioner and a special adviser for the Media and Democracy Reform Initiative at Common Cause. Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights]

[Commentary] The President of the United States weighed in against a fast-lane/slow-lane Internet.

Two conclusions stand out: (1) no new arguments have been ginned up by the big Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T that lend a whit of credibility to their entrenched opposition to strong network neutrality rules; and (2) growing grassroots support for a truly open Internet is commanding attention at the highest levels of government.

In spite of all this, the smart talk around town is that the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is still looking for “net neutrality lite” rules that would avoid a huge battle with Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and their friends in Congress.

There are two huge problems here. One is that net neutrality lite doesn’t get the job done. Two is that a huge fight will ensue no matter how the FCC rules.

[Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009]

[Commentary] Public comments are due regarding the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) proposed rules for network neutrality.

Much of the focus will be on arcane legalisms, the particulars of various court decisions, and the confounding twists and turns of FCC regulatory oversight (or lack thereof). This is all well and good, and based on more than a decade tracking such minutiae as a member of the FCC, I am confident that those of us favoring a real Open Internet will have much the better detailed arguments to put forward.

But it’s more -- much more -- than that.

[Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009]