Best of CounterSpin 2022
CounterSpin is thankful to every activist, researcher, reporter and advocate who appeared on the show, of whom this is just a small selection.
The Supreme Court Is an Ass
From Free Press’s helpful explainer of the AP phone records scandal, noting the legal background: Smith v. Maryland — In this 1979 decision, the Supreme Court found that people have no expectation of privacy when it comes to the numbers they call because they understand it has to be transmitted through a third party (telephone […]
Way Cleared for More ‘Excessive Media Consolidation’
On news that “today, a federal court threw out the Federal Communications Commission’s rule to cap cable ownership at 30 percent,” Free Press (8/28/09) comments “the rule served as an important consumer protection from media consolidation and growing cable cartels, and encouraged diversity in ownership in the cable industry.” The media advocacy group’s Ben Scott […]
Telecoms’ ‘Fake Grassroots’ Push Net Misinformation
Diligent media reformers Free Press (8/19/09) have announced a nifty new “online interactive tool to expose phony grassroots groups hired by big phone and cable companies to advance their political agenda.” They’re talking about “‘astroturf‘ organizations–many of which also work for the health insurance, energy and tobacco industries”– that “are mobilizing to spread misinformation about […]
New Bill to Keep Internet Open, Discrimination-Free
Free Press’s newest release (7/31/09) touts some fresh congressional legislation that “Would Protect Net Neutrality Once and for All.” According to the media reform activists, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 “would protect Network Neutrality under the Communications Act, safeguarding the future of the open Internet and protecting Internet users from discrimination online.” Policy […]
Telecoms Rally Against ‘Transformative’ Internet Bill
Free Press campaign coordinator Misty Perez has sent out (7/15/09) a call to action in light of the astonishing figure that “in the first three months of 2009, the phone and cable industries spent at least $20 million to hire more than 400 lobbyists” in an effort to “push for policies that fatten phone and […]
Even Corporate News ‘Isn’t Just Another Commodity’
A Seattle Times op-ed column (7/4/09) by Free Press’ Victor Pickard and Joseph Torres discussing the fact that “the public’s changing media habits have eroded the newspaper industry’s monopoly on the local ad market” describes the corporate response thus: “The big media companies are pressuring Congress to prop up their failed business models by allowing […]
On AT&T’s ‘Arbitrary Intervention in the Open Internet’
Keeping up with corporate attempts to abuse new media technology, the activists at Free Press (6/18/09) have a new campaign pointing out exactly what’s wrong with the fact that “AT&T is allowing Major League Baseball to stream video live to the iPhone on the carrier’s 3G network, but is prohibiting other companies like SlingPlayer Mobile […]
‘Saving the News’ — and Democracy
Free Press‘ new report suggesting “how the government should respond to the current crisis in journalism”–“Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy” (5/12/09)–addresses both “short- and long-term strategies.” Among their transformative ideas: New Ownership Structures. Encouraging the establishment of nonprofit and low-profit news organizations through tax-exempt and low-profit limited liability company (L3C) models. New […]
Laying to Rest the ‘Bandwidth Bogeyman’
Free Press is welcoming (4/28/09) as “a long overdue step in the right direction” the news that “Cablevision announced plans to offer download speeds of 101Mbps and upload speeds of 15Mbps” without charging “usage caps or overage fees” to users. Research director S. Derek Turner explains that the plan does, however, beg the question why […]
Pelosi: More Corporatization for Failing News Corporations
Free Press‘ Craig Aaron and Joseph Torres (Guardian.co.uk, 3/26/09) promptly knock down the scary development in which Nancy Pelosi recently “asked attorney general Eric Holder to consider loosening antitrust laws to help out struggling newspapers by allowing more media mergers. Holder responded by saying he is open to revisiting the rules”: Pelosi’s request sounds innocuous […]
