By Ann E. Marimow, washingtonpost.com, 1-7-19 An elected official in Virginia violated the First Amendment when she temporarily blocked a constituent on Facebook, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, in a novel case with implications for how government officials nationwide interact with constituents on social media. The unanimous ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 1-4-19 Co-opting the "clean up Washington" mantra of the current Republican President and the "by the people, for the people" language of a former Republican president, House Democrats Friday (Jan. 4) officially unveiled their first bill of the new session, the For the People Act (H.R. 1), which [...]
By Emily Birnbaum, thehill.com, 12-5-18 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai is acknowledging that Russia-linked email addresses weighed in during the public comment process ahead of the FCC's net neutrality repeal last year. Pai said in a statement this week that it is a "fact" that a half-million comments were submitted from Russian email addresses during the public comment [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-20-18 FCC Chairman Ajit Pai did the unveiling Tuesday (Nov. 20) in his monthly blog post on the items the FCC plans to vote on at its next public meeting, which he does when the tentative agenda is released 21 days before the meeting. "On the media front, [...]
By Paul Farhi and Meagan Flynn, washingtonpost.com, 11-19-18 CNN dropped its lawsuit against the White House on Monday after officials told the network that they would restore reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials as long as he abides by a series of new rules at presidential news conferences, including asking just one question at a time. [...]
By Paul Farhi, washingtonpost.com, 11-16-18 A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of CNN and reporter Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Trump, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that the Trump administration had taken away from Acosta last week. In a victory for the cable network and for [...]
By Jason Schwartz, politico.com, 11-13-18 President Donald Trump and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders often have the upper hand over CNN in the White House briefing room. But CNN has likely now claimed the advantage by moving the battle to the courtroom. First Amendment lawyers say courts have a history of defending access for journalists, [...]
By Harry A. Jessell, TVNewsCheck.com, 11-7-18 With Democrats securing a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, key committees controlling media law and policy – Energy and Commerce and its Communications and Technology Subcommittee – will get new leadership that may be less friendly to broadcasting interests than the outgoing Republicans. Out at the [...]
By Associated Press, washingtonpost.com, 11-5-18 The Supreme Court has ended the court fight over repealed Obama-era “net neutrality” rules that required internet providers to treat all online traffic equally. The court on Monday rejected appeals from the telecommunications industry seeking to throw out a lower court ruling in favor of the “net neutrality” rules. The [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 10-11-18 President Donald Trump Thursday (Oct. 11) signed the Hatch-Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, which updates the music licensing framework for the digital age and provides congressional overnight of a Justice Department review of long-standing consent decrees with ASCAP and BMI. While the bill includes providing payments for previously [...]
