{"id":103666,"date":"2017-12-18T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=103666"},"modified":"2017-12-17T12:53:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T12:53:19","slug":"corporate-media-allowed-net-neutrality-to-die-in-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/corporate-media-allowed-net-neutrality-to-die-in-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Media Allowed Net Neutrality to Die in Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The flagship morning news shows on broadcast and cable news covered net neutrality for less than four minutes combined.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo Credit: credo.action \/ Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

15 Dec 2017 – <\/em>The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today voted to repeal net neutrality rules, which will\u00a0allow\u00a0<\/a>internet service providers to block or slow down service and access to websites, or charge fees for faster service.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t aware of this potentially monumental change that will significantly impact your internet access, that\u2019s because the major news networks mostly haven\u2019t been doing their jobs.<\/p>\n

Hours before\u00a0today\u2019s FCC repeal vote<\/a>, the flagship morning news shows on the six major broadcast and cable news networks devoted an embarrassingly small amount of time to covering net neutrality. Relative silence from the major news networks on net neutrality is unfortunately nothing new, as\u00a0Media Matters<\/em>\u00a0has<\/a>\u00a0previously\u00a0<\/a>documented<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This morning, most of the\u00a0morning news programs either completely ignored the impending move or cursorily mentioned it for a few seconds at a time. Among the cable news networks, Fox News\u2019\u00a0Fox & Friends<\/em>\u00a0spent just 52 seconds on net neutrality. MSNBC\u2019s\u00a0Morning Joe<\/em>\u00a0and CNN’s\u00a0New Day<\/em>\u00a0did not cover the story at all. (It was covered for about half a minute on MSNBC’s early morning show,\u00a0First Look<\/em>, and roughly one minute on CNN’s early morning show,\u00a0Early Start.\u00a0<\/em>After the conclusion of\u00a0Morning Joe<\/em>, MSNBC has been covering net neutrality in detail on\u00a0MSNBC Live<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

The broadcast networks also spent scant time on the issue: ABC\u2019s\u00a0Good Morning America<\/em>\u00a0devoted just 14 seconds to net neutrality and NBC\u2019s\u00a0Today<\/em>\u00a0didn\u2019t mention it at all. CBS\u00a0This Morning<\/em>\u00a0led the pack<\/a>\u00a0with two and a half minutes of coverage this morning, and was the only one of the flagship morning programs to run a full segment on the topic.<\/p>\n

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Since November 28, cable news networks have mostly given net neutrality minimal coverage: approximately five minutes each on CNN and Fox News and almost 17 minutes on MSNBC, which has consistently devoted the most coverage to net neutrality in recent weeks. Broadcast networks have been mostly crickets, too. Since November 28, NBC has devoted about eight minutes to covering net neutrality while CBS has spent close to five minutes, and ABC has devoted just 14 seconds to the topic — the\u00a0brief mention on\u00a0Good Morning America\u00a0<\/em>this morning.<\/p>\n

Since November 20, when news first broke about the planned repeal, the six networks have devoted a combined nearly one hour and 53 minutes to the story; although, MSNBC alone has accounted for more than one hour and three minutes of that total coverage time. The vast majority of the coverage occurred before November 28.<\/p>\n

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Under Trump, the Republican-led FCC has already done significant damage to the\u00a0local news landscape<\/a>\u00a0and paved the way for major\u00a0corporate consolidation in media<\/a>\u00a0— but repealing net neutrality seems to be its\u00a0most unpopular<\/a>\u00a0action yet. A new survey found that 83 percent of Americans don\u2019t approve of the FCC\u2019s repeal proposal — including 3 out of 4 Republicans. Even the FCC\u2019s own chief technology officer\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0against the move. And 18 attorneys general had\u00a0called for a delay<\/a>\u00a0in the vote due to widespread fraudulent\u00a0comments during the public comment period.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably why chairman Ajit Pai\u2019s media tour in the days before the net neutrality repeal has largely targeted conservative and far-right media that may provide a (marginally<\/a>) more friendly audience. Since November 21, Pai has given\u00a0four cable news interviews<\/a>: two with\u00a0Fox & Friends<\/a><\/em>, one with Fox News\u2019\u00a0Tucker Carlson<\/a>, and a fourth with conservative talk radio host\u00a0Hugh Hewitt<\/a>\u00a0at MSNBC.\u00a0<\/strong>He did not give an interview to any of the three major broadcast networks. (Pai also seemingly promoted the repeal by\u00a0appearing<\/a>\u00a0in an embarrassing video at The Daily Caller along with renowned plagiarist Benny Johnson and\u00a0a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also why major news networks\u2019 relative silence on such a deeply unpopular and hugely consequential action like the FCC\u2019s repeal vote is a net benefit to the commission and to major corporations — and keeps an informed public from\u00a0fighting back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Methodology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Matters\u00a0<\/em>searched the Snapstream database of television video transcripts for any mentions of \u201cnet neutrality,\u201d “Federal Communications Commission,\u201d or \u201cFCC\u201d from November 20 through\u00a0December 14, 2017 on ABC\u2019s\u00a0Good Morning America<\/em>,\u00a0World News Tonight with David Muir<\/em>, and\u00a0This Week with George Stephanopoulos<\/em>; CBS\u2019s\u00a0This Morning,\u00a0Evening News<\/em>, and\u00a0Face the Nation with John Dickerson<\/em>; NBC\u2019s\u00a0Today,\u00a0Nightly News with Lester Holt<\/em>, and\u00a0Meet the Press with Chuck Todd<\/em>; and all-day programming (through 9am on December 14) on the three major cable news networks — CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. We also searched the Nexis transcript database and the iQ Media transcript database for the same terms. Since November 23 was Thanksgiving, some networks altered their regularly scheduled programming on that day.<\/p>\n

We included any segment about FCC chair Ajit Pai\u2019s proposal or the FCC vote scheduled for December 14 following\u00a0Politico<\/em>\u2019s November 20 report on the proposal. We timed all such segments from start to finish, and excluded any breaks to other news or to commercials. We also included portions of multi-topic segments when two or more speakers discussed the FCC chair\u2019s proposal or the scheduled vote on the proposal with one another. In those instances, we only timed the relevant discussion and not the entire segment. We excluded passing mentions of the proposal or its vote, and we excluded teasers of upcoming segments about the proposal or its vote.<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0<\/strong>This post has been updated to reflect that the FCC\u00a0officially moved<\/a>\u00a0to repeal net neutrality rules in a 3-2 vote on December 14.<\/p>\n

______________________________________<\/p>\n

Rob Savillo contributed research to this report. <\/em><\/p>\n

Charts by Sarah Wasko.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 alternet.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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