Universal Service and the Treasury
The nation’s biggest conservative broadcaster is putting words in its anchors’ mouths. Critics blame the FCC.
Critics say the Federal Communications Commission is responsible for enabling and emboldening the right-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group in ways that could ultimately hurt conservatives and liberals alike.The FCC eliminated the “main studio rule,” a federal requirement that radio and TV stations operate a physical studio in the areas where they were licensed. In voting to repeal the rule, FCC Chairman Pai said technological advances make it no longer necessary for stations to keep the lights on in a physical studio; many broadcasters, including NPR, agreed. Chairman Pai also said the repeal could help financially struggling broadcasters survive. The chief operator of one small radio station, KMXN in Lawrence (KS), estimated that complying with the rule cost him $5,000 a year. By lifting the main studio rule, the FCC made a decision that benefited broadcasters, including Sinclair's 193 stations. But that isn't the only recent policy change that could help Sinclair as it strives to become an even bigger broadcasting giant. The FCC also repealed a rule that prevented TV stations in a given market from merging if it meant the deal would leave fewer than eight independently owned stations in that market. Chairman Pai has also taken aim at a national cap on broadcast ownership. That rule says no broadcaster can reach more than 39 percent of the nation's households. And one of Pai's first acts was to reinstate an accounting method, known as the UHF discount, that effectively helps big broadcasters stay on the right side of the cap. All these moves could prove beneficial to Sinclair in light of its attempt to acquire Tribune Media.
President Trump says Sinclair is ‘far superior to CNN’
On the morning of April 2, President Donald Trump tweeted, "So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke." Sinclair viewers across the country -- who may not know who owns their local CBS, ABC, NBC or Fox affiliate -- are seeing journalists bash their own profession while parroting one of President Trump's favorite talking points. While the message contains grains of truth, it could leave the false impression that many reporters are fabricators — an idea President Trump likes to promote because it grants voters permission to disbelieve whatever information they wish were untrue. Individual Sinclair stations employ their own journalists to cover local news, but the company also centrally produces segments about national issues — sometimes with a clearly pro-Trump bent — that local stations must air. Sinclair's chief political analyst is Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump aide. Stations are often required to broadcast Epshteyn's commentary. HBO's John Oliver ripped Sinclair's “creepy” message on “Last Week Tonight,” saying, “Nothing says ‘We value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”
Sinclair responds to criticism of media-bashing promos
Critics are calling Sinclair's promos pro-President Donald Trump propaganda. Now the company is defending the initiative, and calling it something much more mundane: A "corporate news journalistic responsibility promotional campaign." Sinclair senior vice president of news Scott Livingston is defending the promos as a "well-researched journalistic initiative focused on fair and objective reporting." In an internal memo, Livingston slammed what he called "misleading, often defamatory stories" about the company. "For the record, the stories we are referencing in this campaign are the unsubstantiated ones (i.e. fake/false) like 'Pope Endorses Trump' which move quickly across social media and result in an ill-informed public," he wrote in Monday's memo. "Some other false stories, like the false 'Pizzagate' story, can result in dangerous consequences. We are focused on fact-based reporting. That's our commitment to our communities."
Sinclair defends itself over uproar after local news anchors read anti 'false news' screed
Sinclair Broadcast Group is defending itself against criticism for a recent on-air promotional message many of its local news anchors were asked to read that warned viewers about "false news" on competing media outlets. Sinclair produced the spots to express concern about the spread of such false media reports such as the "Pope Endorses Trump" fake news story that quickly spread across social media, said Scott Livingston, Sinclair's senior vice president of news. “Some other false stories, like the fake ‘Pizzagate’ story, can result in dangerous consequences,” he said. “We are focused on fact-based reporting. That's our commitment to our communities. That’s the goal of these announcements: to reiterate our commitment to reporting facts in a pursuit of truth. We consider it our honor and privilege to deliver the news each night. We seek the truth and strive to be fair.”
Why President Trump’s support for Sinclair Broadcasting is so concerning
[Commentary] President Donald Trump’s April 2 Sinclair tweet highlights the fact that in his administration, companies that favor the president seem to get treated one way, while those who appear to be neutral or even opposed to his administration risk getting publicly abused by him. President Trump’s tweet in support of Sinclair dredges up this disconcerting history. But it’s also troubling on a deeper level. It’s becoming clear that corporations are increasingly coming to feel they either need to kowtow to the current president or potentially suffer the consequence of his disfavor on their bottom line. The more Trump rages at outlets whose coverage he dislikes while fawning over Sinclair, the more concerned we all need to be. [Helaine Olen serves on the advisory board of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.]
‘Fake News’ Threat to Media; Editorial Decisions, Outside Actors at Fault
The news about “fake news” is not good. Large majorities of the American public believe that traditional media outlets engage in reporting fake news and that outside sources are actively trying to plant fake stories in the mainstream media. When it comes to the meaning of “fake news,” a majority believe that it involves editorial decisions as well as inaccurate reporting. The public feels that social media platforms are partly to blame for the spread of fake news and are not doing enough to stop it. The poll also finds that President Trump continues to be less trusted than the major cable news outlets as an information source. More than 3-in-4 Americans believe that traditional major TV and newspaper media outlets report “fake news,” including 31% who believe this happens regularly and 46% who say it happens occasionally. The 77% who believe fake news reporting happens at least occasionally has increased significantly from 63% of the public who felt that way last year. Just 25% say the term “fake news” applies only to stories where the facts are wrong. Most Americans (65%), on the other hand, say that “fake news” also applies to how news outlets make editorial decisions about what they choose to report.
‘A Bit of Divine Justice’: Candidate Trump Vowed to Change Libel Law. But Not Like This.
When Donald J. Trump was running for president, he promised to “open up our libel laws.” No one quite knew what he meant. Recently President Trump started to make good on his campaign pledge. But he did so inadvertently — as a libel defendant on the losing side of a decision that will help victims of sexual misconduct sue when they are called liars. These days, a remarkable number of libel suits, including ones against Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, Roy S. Moore and President Trump, have been filed by women who say they were defamed by men who denied their accusations of sexual misconduct. Courts have struggled with such suits. Calling someone a liar can be an insult, an opinion or hyperbole, all of which are protected by the First Amendment. But an assertion of fact soberly presented from someone in a position to know the truth can amount to libel. A lot depends on context, and courts have had a hard time drawing a line. Two recent decisions in libel suits against President Trump have helped clarify matters.
The Next Cold War is Here, And It's All About Data
[Commentary] The headlines about the trade wars being touched off by President Donald Trump’s new tariffs may telegraph plenty of bombast and shots fired, but the most consequential war being waged today is a quieter sort of conflict: It’s the new Cold War over data protection. While the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica crisis currently burns as the latest, hottest flare-up in this simmering conflict, tensions may increase even more on May 25, 2018, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect. Combatants in the new Cold War are fighting over the currency of the modern age: personal information. The battles are over who controls data. Vying against each other are those societies that believe that individuals have an absolute right to control their personal data—to exercise the same kind of dominion over data that they do over their bodies or their personal property—and those that believe that personal data is a good to be traded on the open market and thus subject to the same market forces at play elsewhere. May the most innovative, efficient company win.
[Tom Pendergast is the Chief Strategist at MediaPro, a cybersecurity and privacy education provider. He has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Purdue University.]
Trump administration wants to track 14 million US visitors’ social media history
Want to visit the United States in a non-immigrant capacity? Should the State Department get its way, your application to enter the country may soon hinge on coughing up five years of your online history. The Department of State's proposal would expand this request, which is currently required to apply for an immigrant visa. The proposal could be enacted after a 60-day public-comment period pending passage by the Office of Management and Budget. Alternatively, the State Department could modify the proposal and start another comment period. But should this current iteration go into effect, an estimated 14 million non-immigrant visa applicants per year would be asked to list any "identifiers" used on a variety of popular social media sites. Those applicants will additionally be required to disclose identifiers they have used during that timespan on sites that aren't on the State Department's default list. The proposal also expands the State Department's requests from applicants. These individuals would also be asked to supply past phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, and records of international travel.
Facebook Previously Failed To Keep Privacy Promises, Ex-FTC Adviser Tim Wu Says
A Q&A with Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia University and coiner of the term "net neutrality." Noel King talks to Tim Wu, who was a senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission in 2011, when the agency settled with Facebook for failing to protect user privacy. Professor Wu shares his skepticism that the social media platform made its agreement with the FTC a priority. "The problem the FTC was confronting was the problem, similar to now, that there were a number of abusive apps that you installed, and then they did a lot more with your data than you thought they were. And one of the big problems is that Facebook gave you the impression that you could control your own privacy by, you know, setting the settings in certain ways, but those settings didn't do anything…They've basically broken the promise they made to the country in 2011 and the promises they kept making to everybody through these privacy settings."
Paid prioritization: Debunking the myth of fast and slow lanes
[Commentary] Cisco Systems Vice President Jeffrey Campbell highlighted that paid prioritization is “one of the most misunderstood issues” in the telecom policy space. There's a growing realization that prioritization can play a positive role in network traffic management. But to understand why, we need to get beyond the “fast lanes, slow lanes” metaphor that has too often dominated the net neutrality debate. All internet traffic on a network moves at the same speed — the speed at which the electrons propagate on the wire. The problem is congestion: what happens when users want to transmit more data than the wire can physically manage at a particular moment. When pressed, some net neutrality advocates will concede the value of intelligent traffic management. The problem isn’t prioritization, they claim, but paid prioritization: the protection against congestion in exchange for a fee. But once one acknowledges the need to prioritize traffic, one then needs a method of prioritization. [Daniel Lyons is also an associate professor at Boston College Law School]
Verizon asks FCC to accelerate Philadelphia copper retirement to accommodate new bridge construction
Verizon has asked the Federal Communications Commission to accelerate its request to retire some of its copper facilities in Southern Philadelphia (PA) due to two bridge replacements being conducted by Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). In its request to the FCC, Verizon said that SEPTA and PennDOT planned to replace two bridges in Philadelphia: the Allens Lane Bridge in Verizon’s Chestnut Hill, wire center and the Woodland Avenue Bridge in its Saratoga wire center. SEPTA’s and PennDOT’s bridge replacement work will sever some of Verizon’s copper facilities in these areas. Instead of replacing the copper wiring, Verizon will put in new fiber facilities.
Rural broadband providers keep pressing for smaller CBRS licensed areas
Several organizations representing the interests of rural telecommunication and electric cooperatives recently met with Federal Communications Commission staff to discuss rules for the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)—namely, that they want the rules to remain much the same as they were crafted in the first place. Representatives of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA), Federated Wireless and Ruckus Networks talked about the importance of making sure the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) are properly sized to spur auction participation by a number of potential licensees, including electric utilities and telecom providers serving rural America. Notably, NRTC, NRECA and NTCA stated that auctioning PALs by Partial Economic Areas (PEAs), which is what most larger wireless operators are advocating, would foreclose opportunities for rural wireless services. They say PEAs favor larger established operators to the detriment of smaller, rural operators and new entrants.
Carriers Are Hoarding America’s Bandwidth. Google Just Wants Them to Share
A Google-led plan to overhaul how valuable airwaves are used for calls and texts is gaining momentum across the wireless industry, giving the company the chance to play a central role in networks of the future. Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is a fat slice of the US airwaves being freed from the military’s exclusive control. Instead of just zipping messages between aircraft carriers and fighter jets, the spectrum will be shared by the Navy, wireless carriers like Verizon, cable companies including Comcast, and even hospitals, refineries, and sports stadiums. Google, with help from some smaller tech companies, is leading the charge on ways to make the new service work seamlessly. They've built databases and sensor systems that switch users to different CBRS channels to avoid interference, especially when the Navy sails into town. This could upend the wireless business. Carriers spent more than $50 billion in recent years buying exclusive spectrum rights then charging users for cell service. What if, instead of buying and hoarding, spectrum is shared in new ways? It could become an abundant resource, making mobile internet connectivity more available and potentially cheaper.
Understanding the trend to mobile-only internet connections: A decomposition analysis
A growing portion of internet users rely solely on mobile devices such as smartphones for their online access. The percentage of “mobile-only” households increased from 9% in 2011 to 20% in 2015, more than doubling in only four years. As this shift continues, it leads to the question of what factors are driving the rise in mobile-only adoption. Using nationally representative data, this study uses logistic regressions and a decomposition technique to understand the trend. The decomposition reveals that a significant portion (65%) of the growth was due to an increase in the download speeds of mobile networks. An increased acceptance of mobile-only access by households aged 55 and older was also partly responsible. Understanding (and developing a response to) the trend towards mobile-only adoption will be important as organizations and governments continue to work to close the digital divide.
Google is equipping more rural school buses with Wi-Fi and Chromebooks
Google announced an expansion of its Rolling Study Halls initiative to over 16 additional school districts, giving “thousands” of students access to Wi-Fi and Chromebooks on their buses. Google has piloted the program in North Carolina and South Carolina over the last couple years, focusing its efforts on rural communities where some students have lengthy bus rides between home and the classroom each day. Google contributes mobile Wi-Fi routers, data plans, and Chromebook devices. Each Rolling Study Hall also has an “onboard educator” who’s able to provide direct assistance. This program is the work of a partnership between Google and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). Providing students with dependable Wi-Fi before and after school is a boon for those who might lack broadband internet at home, giving them two opportunities daily to complete assignments or study for exams while on the bus.
Trump 2020 campaign manager calls for CNN's Acosta to have his press credentials revoked
President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager is calling for Jim Acosta to be stripped of his press credentials after the CNN White House correspondent questioned President Trump during the White House Easter Egg Roll. Brad Parscale shared an article from The Daily Caller, which reported that Acosta “yelled at Trump” during the event. Parscale said in his tweet that he thinks it is time for Acosta to “get a suspension for breaking protocol.” “He continues to embarrass himself and @CNN,” Parscale wrote. “Pull his credentials for each incident.”
Charter fails to prove that its employees purposely caused cable outages
Charter Communications has lost a lawsuit in which it accused a workers' union of sabotaging the Charter network during an ongoing strike. Charter sued IBEW Local Union No. 3 in a New York state court in October in 2017, alleging that union leadership "orchestrated" vandalism of coaxial and fiber cables that had caused outages for tens of thousands of subscribers. The lawsuit said vandalism hit Charter cables in New York City more than 125 times during the strike, which began in March 2017 and is now entering its second year. But a court ruling issued March 29 granted the union's motion to dismiss the complaint. Charter's suit alleged that "the perpetrators of these acts of sabotage were Local 3 members and/or agents," but it failed to identify the individuals or demonstrate how Charter knows they are union members, Justice Kathryn Freed wrote.
FCC Launches New Honors Engineering Program
The Federal Communications Commission announced the launch of a new Honors Engineer Program to recruit current students and recent engineering school graduates to the FCC and into the forefront of the technology and communications fields. This is an opportunity for individuals to gain public
sector experience at the beginning of their careers through a valuable one-year career development program. At the end of the one-year program, Honors Program engineers will be eligible for consideration for continued employment at the FCC.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) -- we welcome your comments.
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