By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 5-3-19 First-year senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has made hammering Big Tech his signature issue, provided a Hoover Institute audience Thursday with a dystopian view of social media as an addiction that imperils its users and "sucks" the brightest minds to the coasts – abandoning flyover country – [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 5-2-19 Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim provided a number of breadcrumbs that broadcasters and advertisers can follow on the trail to what changes DOJ may or may not make to its view of the competitive advertising market when it comes to merger reviews. Justice and the [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 5-2-19 A bipartisan bill to coordinate the deployment of broadband deployment and funding to areas in need and reduce overbuilding. NCTA-The Internet & Television Association is definitely on board. The Broadband Interagency Coordination Act is co-sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and [...]
Participated as part of a coalition of 103 media, journalism, civil liberties, and other groups in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The letter expresses deep concern over reports of surveillance and targeting of journalists, activists, and lawyers by DHS. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reportedly created dossiers and targeted individuals [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Supreme Court of North Carolina in Desmond v. News and Observer Publishing Co. The case involved a series of articles delving into alleged errors made by an employee of the State Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab. The brief noted [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Gubarev v. BuzzFeed, Inc. The brief argued that New York’s fair report privilege bars a defamation action against BuzzFeed for publishing an indisputably true and fair article about allegations (prominently [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Supreme Court for the State of Washington in Associated Press v. Washington State Legislature. The brief emphasizes the importance of access to legislative records by the media and the public, including the records of individual legislators, staff complaints against [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 4-23-19 Newly minted Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (pronounced "buddah-jedge") said that antitrust law "has begun to hit its limits" with regulating Big Tech, which may need shaking up or even breaking up. He said that law "was not designed to handle some of these tech companies." Buttigieg [...]
Participated in a letter (with the Reporters Committee and other media groups) sent to a federal judge in Cleveland regarding In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804. The letter objected to the court’s plans to close the courtroom to members of the press and public for a pre-trial conference. The letter urged [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Court of Appeal of the State of California in Smith v. Palisades News. The case involved a defamation suit against the Palisades News brought by an activist who objected to the newspaper’s coverage of her statements on a matter [...]