BC/DC: Eggerton on Washington
BC/DC is the media executives\' must-see view from Washington, delivered by yours truly without the aid of rose-colored glasses and without the need, quite yet, of bifocals.
"There Is No Justification For Intervention"
Broadcast lobbyists are looking to line up legislators to weigh in at the FCC on their side of the retrans debate between Fox and Cablevision, according to a copy of proposed language for the letter obtained by B&C/Multi.Fox declined to comment on that language, but up until now it has been Cablevision drumming up most of the mail from legislators, national and local, calling for keeping signa ...... Read More
Comments (0)Speaking Freely
I don’t need to tell anyone how ironic it would be for speakers, individual or corporate, to remain silent about the value of the First Amendment during National Freedom of Speech Week (Oct. 18-24). But if I did need to tell them, including writing an angry editorial or standing on a soapbox in the town square, electronic or otherwise, I would be free to do so. That is why I encourage media ...... Read More
Comments (0)Media's Major Role In Miner Rescue
FCC Chairman Juilus Genachowski used the recovery of Chilean miners as an opportunity to give a shout-out to communications in general and one of the broadband plan’s national purposes in particular.Genachowski said Thursday that the Chilean miner rescue was “not just a story about the triumph of the human spirit,” but of “the power of technlogy and, in particular, comm ...... Read More
Comments (0)Phoenix Study Gets Flamed
The Phoenix Center will need to rise from the ashes of the incendiary criticisms labeled at its latest study by an FCC official.Paul deSa, the chief of the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning took aim at the center in a claw-baring blog posting Wednesday. The Center had released a study earlier this week, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Communications Policy and Employment Effects in the Information Secto ...... Read More
Comments (0)Truthiness Will Out
Stephen Colbert’s appearance before a House subcommittee on immigration initially reminded me a little bit of the Whittier birthday speech, where humorist Mark Twain lampooned the New England literary lions of the day to their faces in an attempt at humor that backfired disastrously when the audience didn’t get, and/or didn’t like, the joke. I was uncomfortable as I watched th ...... Read More
Comments (0)Conyers Asks Colbert To Leave Without Testifying
Comedy Central comic Stephen Colbert didn’t wait until his planned Oct. 30 mock D.C. march to come to Washington. Colbert was in town Friday to testify at a House Immigration Subcommittee hearing on “Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.” Colbert said he was testifying as an American citizen, but did so as his bombastic TV character. His humorous ...... Read More
Comments (1)Honoring in the Observance
It’s Constitution Day (http://constitutioncenter.org/ncc_progs_constitution_day.aspx), and Free State Foundation President Randolph May has taken that opportunity to remind the FCC of the constitutional implications of its decisions on things like property rights, due process and free speech.May points to the “inherent tension” between communications regulation and First Amend ...... Read More
Comments (0)Mr. Stewart (and Colbert) Come to Washington
The tweet-o-sphere was humming Friday on the news that Jon Stewart’s Daily Show will come to Washington, D.C. for an Oct. 30 “Rally To Restore Sanity” event (http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/). “Ours is a rally for the people who’ve been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs),” The Daily ...... Read More
Comments (0)GUEST POST: Is America Losing Its Creative Edge?
In a guest blog, Andrew Keen, advisor to media/technology coalition Arts & Labs, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, broadcaster and author, says that policymakers should not lose sight of the fact that the Internet is a commercial good, as well as a social one, and that it is driven by creativity that can be undermined by technology. Last week, at the Technology Policy Institute&# ...... Read More
Comments (0)Sh*t Michael Douglas Says
Michael Douglas has stage four throat cancer. In bravely talking about it on the David Letterman show this week, he was asked by Letterman whether the doctors had found it “early enough for their liking.” His immediate answer: “I sure as shit hope so.” Having had a loved one once face a diagnoses of a deadly cancer, fortunately in an earlier stage, I know how absolutely ...... Read More
Comments (5)Copps Corrects 'Post'
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has taken the Washington Post to task for its editorial in support of the Google/Verizon network neutrality accord. In a letter to the editor Aug. 31, Copps pointed out that the editorial had “wrongly stated” that the BitTorrent court decision meant the FCC had no authority over Internet Service Providers. The decision was actually that the statute the ...... Read More
Comments (0)Post Endorses Google/Verizon-Like Approach
The Washington Post has endorsed the Google-Verizon policy proposal for Internet openness regulation, or “something like” it, while saying that the FCC’s proposal to reclassify broadband transmissions as a Title II common carrier service subject to only some of those regs “would be a serious step backward.” That is either yet another shot by the Post at FCC Chair ...... Read More
Comments (0)