By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-14-17 ISPs, free marketers and other fans of the FCC’s Dec. 14 net neutrality rule rollback had plenty of nice things to say about the FCC and the Republican majority that overturned the rules approved by the previous Democratic majority. (The vote was strictly party line, with [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-12-17 Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, took to the Senate floor Tuesday to promote the FCC's upcoming vote to roll back net neutrality regs and to call again for Congress to settle the debate once and for all. He outlined the history [...]
Legacy Includes Free Speech Week, Emphasis on Emerging Technologies FOR RELEASE: December 5, 2017 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., December 5, 2017 – Patrick D. Maines, who has headed The Media Institute amid successive waves of technological innovation in a media world radically transformed by corporate restructuring, consolidation, and [...]
By Robert Barnes, washingtonpost.com, 11-29-17 A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed to agree Wednesday that the abundance of private information available about Americans in the digital age might require new restraints on government’s ability to access it. In the specific case before the court, these new limits could require law enforcement officials to [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-28-17 The attacks online and in protest signage against FCC chairman Ajit Pai and his family over the Restoring Internet Freedom order circulated last week continued to draw condemnation Tuesday, including a suggestion law enforcement may need to get involved. That included from a longtime colleague, Robert [...]
By David L. Hudson, Jr.... Digital billboards represent an improved and exciting medium of communication yet face continued discrimination from city and county ordinances across the country. Digital billboards employ LED technology, illuminating multiple messages that are easy to see. Yet the technology and speech-enhancing capabilities are ignored. Digital billboards have been met with a [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-21-17 In a sweeping decision, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing to essentially wipe the slate clean of most net-neutrality regulations adopted under the Title II-based 2015 Open Internet Order by the then Tom Wheeler-led FCC. The Restoring Internet Freedom Draft Order circulated earlier today (Nov. 21) [...]
By Robert Corn-Revere… As usual, the story began with some unhinged tweets from the president: “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” Lest he be misunderstood, Trump followed his first volley with this: “Network news has [...]
By Kurt Wimmer... Since the advent of publishing on the Internet, media companies have been concerned about the reach of international jurisdiction over U.S. publishers. Repeatedly, media companies with few contacts outside of the United States have been subjected to the jurisdiction of distant courts in countries from Australia to Zimbabwe applying their own domestic [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 10-25-17 FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he has circulated a media ownership item for a vote at the November meeting that would achieve major broadcast deregulation. It would eliminate the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rules; the radio-TV crossownership rule, eliminate the eight-voices test for duopolies; allow for case-by case [...]