Media Regulation – Media & Communications Policy

September 6, 2024September 5, 2024 By Guest Author Gary Shapiro

Tech’s Role in Driving Innovation: Why Over-Regulation Stifles Progress

Recently, The Media Institute shared a commentary by Adonis Hoffman suggesting tech should be highly regulated, blaming it for many problems faced by traditional media. On behalf of the Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA)^®1,300 tech company members, many of which are leading competitors around the world and collectively are driving economic and stock market growth, I strongly disagree with this perspective. The notion of using government to “tear down” one industry to “boost” another is misguided and harmful to the competitive spirit that drives American innovation and economic success.

Tech is tackling global challenges and improving lives for billions of people. Indeed, CTA and CES^® partnered with the United Nations to provide and promote solutions for clean water, clean air, health care, and food availability. As innovators develop solutions saving lives, some media industry lobbyists whose businesses lost market share to innovative competitors push for unnecessary taxes and restrictions on tech – simply because it has disrupted traditional models.

May 29, 2024May 28, 2024 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

American TV Is Changing for Better or Worse

The American TV market is changing before our very eyes, presenting viewers, creators, and advertisers an unprecedented degree of choice, convenience, and competition. We are witnessing a platinum age of television, where an alluring array of movies, sports, and specials is accessible on our phones, tablets, and computers, available anytime and anyplace, on demand. Though we now refer to it as “video,” at its essence it remains television, and we just cannot get enough of it.

But, for traditional TV broadcasters, these changes are both a blessing and a bane. A blessing because more people are watching more video than ever before. A bane because more people are viewing that video through non-traditional media, which represents an evolving societal shift.

November 6, 2023November 5, 2023 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

FCC Ready To Ramp Up Rulemaking on Two Key Issues

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is one of the most important regulatory agencies in America, and perhaps the world. It is home to scores of talented, dedicated, and hard-working engineers, economists, and legal experts who have eschewed private-sector lucre for selfless public service.

With statutory authority to regulate the nation’s communications systems, devices, and technology, the FCC has power to approve or deny mergers; levy fines and penalties; bring suit; award licenses and contracts; allocate spectrum; conduct hearings and inquiries; establish standards and codes; and promulgate regulations governing television, radio, telephone, wireless, mobile, Internet, cable, satellite, and international services in the multibillion-dollar telecom, media, and technology sector.

September 15, 2023 By Stuart N. Brotman

U.S. Needs an Urgent Action Plan To Save Presidential Debates

The modern norm of televised presidential debates may not survive our highly polarized political environment, unless a new action plan is established soon to ensure this staple of American electoral life continues in 2024.

In 1960, on a one-time-only basis, Congress enabled the historic Kennedy-Nixon debates to take place. The law it suspended – Section 315(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, which required “equal opportunities” for all candidates – subsequently resumed in full force. As a result, there were no presidential debates in 1964, 1968, or 1972.

April 25, 2023April 18, 2023 By Stuart N. Brotman

How Silicon Valley’s Leap Ahead Was Preceded by Visible Government Footsteps

The recent passing of Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore at age 94 has brought back well-deserved stories about how this tech legend played a leading role in developing silicon microprocessors, which served as the foundation for the exponential growth of our modern computer age. But this Big Bang in Silicon Valley was preceded by a series of events that created the environment that allowed Moore and his brilliant colleagues – notably Intel co-founder Robert Noyce – to achieve the technological breakthroughs that have changed the world.

Silicon Valley is a noted center of technological advancement and entrepreneurship, achieving innovations that have left lasting and unmatched imprints on society, here and abroad. Its centrality to such developments as the personal computer, social networks, and cloud computing has made the region so successful, with continual fueling by venture capital. Few are aware, however, that the staggering growth of the area had its roots in Washington, D.C., during the regulation-intensive climate of the late 1940s through the late 1950s.

January 13, 2023January 13, 2023 By Stuart N. Brotman

Let C-SPAN Have Unrestricted Camera Access to U.S. House Proceedings

After the chaotic process that led to the 15th-round election of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, there is much talk about how much power he needed to give up in order to achieve his narrow-majority victory. But even with the new rule changes for the 118th Congress – such as allowing for a single member to make a motion to vacate, triggering a vote on retaining the Speaker – there is one clear power that Speaker McCarthy has not forfeited. That’s the power to let C-SPAN have unrestricted camera access to House proceedings, as it did during the dramatic events leading up to the final vote tally.

December 20, 2022December 20, 2022 By Stuart N. Brotman

Two Teachable First Amendment Moments

Since Election Day 2022, we have experienced two extraordinary teachable moments about the First Amendment. Those all along the political spectrum should review them as a crash-course refresher for the clear red line that our nation’s Founding Fathers envisioned when they crafted this bedrock of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, has decided to lift a nearly three-year ban on using the popular social media platform that had been imposed on Donald J. Trump during the final days of his presidency. Musk indicated this reversal represented “the will of the people,” based on a quick, unscientific online poll he posted that indicated a slim majority approved of former president Trump being allowed to use Twitter again to reach the 88 million people who had been his followers at the time of his banishment.

December 14, 2021December 15, 2021 By Stuart N. Brotman

Fifteen Days in June: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers Case

Last month, Justice Charles D. Wood of the Westchester County Supreme Court issued a controversial order blocking The New York Times from publishing or seeking various documents related to Project Veritas. The Times had published an article on Nov. 11, 2021 that discussed the group’s journalistic practices, along with an investigation by the Department of Justice concerning the potential theft by Project Veritas of President Biden’s daughter Ashley’s diary. The article also mentioned a separate defamation case against the Times that Project Veritas had initiated in 2020, based on coverage of a video the group had released alleging voter fraud related to the campaign of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn).

Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet commented that “[t]his ruling is unconstitutional and sets a dangerous precedent. When a court silences journalism, it fails its citizens and undermines their right to know. The Supreme Court made that clear in the Pentagon Papers case, a landmark ruling against prior restraint blocking the publication of newsworthy journalism. That principle clearly applies here. We are seeking an immediate review of this decision.”

November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 By Guest Author Robert Corn-Revere, Esq.

The Censor’s Dilemma

Pity the plight of poor Anthony Comstock. The man H.L. Mencken described as “the Copernicus of a quite new art and science,” who literally invented the profession of anti-obscenity crusader in the waning days of the 19th century, ultimately got, as legendary comic Rodney Dangerfield would say, “no respect, no respect at all.”

As head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and special agent for the U.S. Post Office under a law that popularly bore his name, Comstock was, in Mencken’s words, the one “who first capitalized moral endeavor like baseball or the soap business, and made himself the first of its kept professors.”

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 By Guest Author Gary Shapiro

Attacking Free Speech Doesn’t Just Hurt Tech: America Must Stay True to Its First Amendment Principles

The First Amendment is one of the cornerstone principles that define this nation. There is no such thing as freedom if we cannot speak freely. 

Today, however, our nation seems less interested in protecting free speech than at any time I can recall. Major advocates of free speech like the ACLU are wavering in their support of our First Amendment, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are fighting for the government to censor online speech.