FCC: Fronting For Corporations? [View all]

[marmar]

from In These Times:


FCC: Fronting For Corporations?
Business is cheering Obama’s nominee. That’s bad news if you like your media diverse and your Internet free.

BY Joel Bleifuss


President Obama nominated Tom Wheeler the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Grant Seiffert, the president of the Telecommunications Industry Association enthused: “He has the proven ability to transcend a broad range of industry perspectives to reach balanced outcomes.”

Indeed. Wheeler, 67, is the former head of—and chief lobbyist for—both the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. Or, as Obama spins it, “He’s helped give American consumers more choices and better products.” (He’s also helped give the president more than $245,000 in bundled contributions for his re-election campaign.)

For Wheeler’s views on the challenges confronting American media, we have his blog “Mobile Musings.” It’s remarkable how one man can write so much (59 posts since 2007) yet say so little. Particularly when it comes to two critical media issues.

The first such issue is net neutrality, the idea that the nation’s information highway should be free of toll booths. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.org/article/14974/fcc_fronting_for_corporations/