Hill, The

The Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) is trying to reassure House Republicans that it has no plans to restrict the freedom of the press. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Republican leaders of the House Commerce Committee that his commission “has no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or broadcasters.”

Chairman Wheeler defended new FCC research as the first step toward pinpointing “market barriers” that may make affect the “diversity of media voices.” Republicans expressed concern that the FCC's study was an attempt "to control the political speech of journalists” by reviving the Fairness Doctrine, now-extinct rules that required radio and TV broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints on major issues. FCC Commission Ajit Pai raised alarms about the study.

Executives from Verizon and T-Mobile will testify on competition in the wireless market in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights. Verizon Executive Vice President Randal Milch and T-Mobile Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Thomas Sugrue will appear.

The hearing is titled "An Examination of Competition in the Wireless Market" and will also include Eric Graham, senior vice president of strategic relations at Cellular South -- or C Spire, the eighth largest wireless company in the country -- and Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, a coalition of wireless companies and advocacy groups.

AT&T received more than 300,000 government requests for user data in 2013, according to the company’s first Transparency Report. The total number of government requests for civil and criminal investigations, 301,816, includes 248,343 subpoenas, 36,788 court orders and 16,685 search warrants, the report said. Of those 301,816 requests, AT&T challenged 3,765 requests and provided partial or no information in response to 13,707 of the requests, the company said. The report also outlined government requests for user data for national security purposes. AT&T received at least 2,000 requests for user data in the form of National Security Letters, affecting at least 4,000 accounts, according to the report.