By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-17-21 A diverse group of journalism organizations has called on Congress to pass the Local Journalism Sustainability Act (S. 2434). The bill would help local stations and newspapers staff up their newsrooms, citing, in part, Big Tech’s “devouring” of their local ad market. “For local and underserved communities, local [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-16-21 Google has asked an Ohio court to dismiss a suit filed by the state’s attorney general that attempts to designate the company a common carrier. Instead, said Google, it is a publisher whose responses to user queries are “editorial decisions” protected by the First Amendment and that the [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to grant certiorari in Frasier v. Evans. In March 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the right to record police officers in public in the performance of [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-10-21 Broadcasters are working hard to try to get the FCC to reverse course on its plans to increase their user fees, in part to pay for the better broadband maps Congress has demanded of the commission. The FCC pays for its operations through user fees -- as well [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-9-21 Local broadcasters are urging the Senate to provide tax credits to stations that staff up their newsrooms, citing, in part, Big Tech’s “devouring” of their local ad market. In a letter to Senate leadership, all 50 state broadcaster associations called for passage of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act. [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-9-21 A trio of powerful Democratic senators are pressing Facebook on its decision not to let researchers at New York University’s Ad Observatory Project to its platform, which Facebook said was out of privacy concerns. The university is studying political advertising on Facebook, including finding what the senators called [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-9-21 An infrastructure bill with tens of billions for broadband appears both poised for a Senate vote and without the Biden Administration’s explicit focus on affordability or competition as part of the definition of broadband availability. But the bill’s language would appear to allow for determinations of “reliable” broadband [...]
Senator Gordon Smith of NAB To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Oct. 20 Event FOR RELEASE: August 5, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., August 5, 2021 – The Media Institute will honor William E. Kennard, chairman of the board of AT&T, Inc., Norah O’Donnell, anchor and managing editor of [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the New Jersey Supreme Court in Rivera v. Union County Prosecutor’s Office. This case concerns whether internal affairs records are disclosable under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) or the common law. The specific records sought relate to an [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 7-29-21 Among a laundry list of Republican House bills targeted at edge providers introduced this week was a House version of one that would require the FCC to study the feasibility of making streaming services and others pay into the Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidy program. The FCC-overseen USF [...]