Participated in an amicus letter (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, the criminal case against Maxwell. The letter opposes Maxwell’s request to seal the parties’ proposed juror questionnaire and proposed voir dire, a request [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-19-21 The Biden White House has released a fact sheet on its efforts to advance equity and opportunity, including educational opportunities for Black people. But neither in that pages-long e-mail to reporters nor in a new executive order from the president on further advancing equity (the White House Initiative [...]
Featured Speaker Senator Gordon Smith of NAB To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award FOR RELEASE: October 19, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., October 19, 2021 – The Media Institute will bestow awards on William E. Kennard, chairman of the board of AT&T Inc., Norah O’Donnell, anchor and managing editor of [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-18-21 As advertised last week, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), joined by a bipartisan chorus of others, including Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), have introduced a bill that would crack down on Big Tech. The tech industry immediately fired back against the bill. The American Innovation and [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-18-21 Federal Communications Commission member Nathan Simington said he doesn’t favor the agency setting standards for wireless receivers, but is arguing the industry needs to do so. The Republican commissioner has clearly been getting pushback on his push for wireless receiver standards, which he argues are necessary given how [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-15-21 Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Mike Johnson (R-La.) have teamed up to call on Big Tech to create a rating board for apps and adopt ratings comparable to those for video games, movies, and music. While there have been ratings boards for movies, music, and video games for [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-15-21 Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) signaled this week they will be introducing an antitrust-centric bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, that would prevent tech platforms from favoring their own products or services, including by disadvantaging their rivals by biasing search results in favor [...]
Programs Will Bring First Amendment to New Audiences in Washington, New York FOR RELEASE: October 15, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., October 15, 2021 – To mark the start of Free Speech Week (FSW) on Monday, Oct. 18, The Media Institute announced today that it intends to partner with [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-14-21 In the wake of the revelations by a Facebook whistleblower and allegations about the company’s internal research about the impact of its platforms on young people, House Energy & Commerce Committee leaders have proposed a bill that targets “reckless” use of algorithms by limiting Section 230. Former Facebook [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-14-21 Reading the regulatory handwriting on the wall, and on proposed legislation to crack down on Big Tech, Twitter has offered up its “guiding principles” for preserving an open Internet, which include not targeting only the biggest players, like Twitter, and a call for algorithmic transparency, something Congress has [...]