‘AT&T Only Buys Time Warner Once in a Lifetime’
“The DoJ cannot make the net neutrality argument while at the same time Trump’s FCC is tearing down net neutrality.”
Nilay Patel on AT&T/Time Warner Ruling, Sam Menefee-Libey on J20 Update
It’s true the government didn’t make much of a case, and that the judge doesn’t seem to understand how the internet works; but the deeper truth may be that we need to fundamentally rethink our antitrust approaches to a media/tech industry that is every day more influential.
Something You Still Won’t See on MSNBC
A merger of two massive media companies–which raises some fundamental questions about one corporation holding enormous power over cable, broadband and programming–isn’t generating any interest over at MSNBC.
Fox Sports Acknowledges That Lying to Viewers Is ‘Misleading’
Fox Sports, covering a football game between the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons (9/11/11), put up a bunch of headlines about Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s knee problems: Cutler Leaves With Injury Cutler Lacks Courage Cutler’s No Leader “These are the actual headlines from the local papers in Chicago,” announcer Daryl Johnston declared. Wow, were the […]
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 […]
Community Broadband Fight Continues in N.C.
Bringing us the news that “the North Carolina legislature just sent a bill to study committee (a.k.a shelved it at least until next year) that would have crippled municipal broadband projects in the state,” AlterNet‘s Tana Ganeva (5/6/09) tells “why that’s a really, really good (albeit temporary) thing”: According to a recent study, America ranks […]
Activists Beat Back Tiered Internet Scheme
Free Press Campaign Director Tim Karr (SaveTheInternet.com, 4/16/09) is celebrating Time Warner Cable having “shelved its plan to impose excessive Internet fees against those who use the Web for more than email and basic surfing.” Karr details how Time Warner Cable had been testing new Internet use penalties on people in Beaumont, Texas, and planned […]
Time/Warner Merger: Threat to the First Amendment
Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. —A.J. Leibling When Ben Bagdikian predicted in the first edition of The Media Monopoly (1983) that the future would see a half-dozen corporations controlling most of the media market, he was attacked as alarmist and paranoid. This month, when the Time and Warner communication giants […]
