News

WASHINGTON — Last week, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Koch brothers confirmed their interest in buying newspapers around the United States.

WASHINGTON — Since 2007, the federal government has been working with the nation’s top Internet companies — a group that reportedly includes Apple, Facebook and Google — to access their users’ electronic communications.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order requiring Verizon to turn over records of all calls the company’s customers make.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the Minority Media Telecommunications Council released a study on the consequences of weakening the Federal Communications Commission’s media-ownership rules.

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, May 29, as part of a national day of action, Free Press, local activists and members of the Coalition to Save Our News will join together to protest the potential sale of Tribune Co. newspapers to the Koch brothers.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, Free Press and more than 60 civil-liberties, digital-rights, press-freedom and public-interest groups sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full, transparent account of the Justice Department’s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn takes over as acting chairwoman of the agency. She’s the first woman to lead the FCC, and she will remain chairwoman until the Senate confirms her successor.

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told a group of investors that he expects content providers and app developers to pay him to keep their traffic from counting against mobile data caps. This follows earlier news that Verizon Wireless was in talks with ESPN to get the sports network paying the carrier so that ESPN content would not count against monthly limits.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Free Press released Combating the Cable Cabal, a comprehensive analysis of the economics of the cable industry.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced a bill to restore wireless users’ ability to “unlock” their phones, tablets or other mobile devices.