News

WASHINGTON — Free Press, Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union filed thousands of pages of comments Monday night blasting the Federal Communications Commission for its “inconsistent, incompetent and incoherent” attempts to skew official research in support of Chairman Kevin Martin’s dubious but foregone conclusions about media consolidation.

WASHINGTON — Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company and second-largest Internet service provider, is actively interfering with its users’ ability to access legal content through content-sharing technologies like BitTorrent. The Associated Press calls Comcast’s interference “the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider.”

WASHINGTON — The StopBigMedia.com Coalition is shocked and dismayed over news that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is secretly pushing for a vote to relax media ownership rules by Dec. 18.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission today punished broadcasters for airing commentary by pundit Armstrong Williams without disclosing that he was on the government payroll.

WASHINGTON — Today, the presidents of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Christian Coalition co-authored a Washington Post op-ed calling on Congress to address the censorship policies of phone companies like Verizon and AT&T. Last month, Verizon arbitrarily banned text messages from NARAL, deeming the lawful political speech too “controversial and unsavory” to send.

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Free Press today unveiled evidence that, despite mounting pressure from the public and the Federal Communications Commission, television stations continue to air public relations videos without disclosure.

WASHINGTON — President Bush today pledged to veto congressional legislation on government eavesdropping if it doesn’t include retroactive immunity for companies like AT&T and Verizon for aiding government surveillance.

Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver made the following statement:

WASHINGTON — Consumer groups slammed the Federal Communications Commission yesterday for its inability to accurately assess the true state of female and minority broadcast ownership. In filed comments, Free Press, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America exposed how the FCC’s official research failed to account for the majority of the female- and minority-owned broadcast stations.

WASHINGTON — Free Press, coordinator of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, is calling for congressional hearings to address growing public outrage over phone company censorship policies. Last week, Verizon made headlines with its decision to ban text messages from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

WASHINGTON — Today’s New York Times reports that Verizon censored a text message from the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). The phone company is claiming that the incident was the result of “dusty internal policy.”