The Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) is a local-to-local advocacy network of grassroots community organizations working together for media change to end poverty, eliminate racism, and ensure human rights.
By Dave Saldana, September 8, 2011 / Reposted from SavetheInternet.com The Department of Justice gave wireless customers an extremely valuable gift last week when it filed suit to block the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, a $39 billion boondoggle that would've made AT&T richer and more powerful at the expense of everybody else. By suing to block the merger, the Justice Department allowed consumers to keep the benefits of the competition, innovation and choice that a competitive market, such as it is, provides for us.
Center for Media Justice Pleased by DoJ Action to Block AT&T/T-Mobile Merger by Karlos Gauna Schmieder of Center for Media Justice / August 31st, 2011 Oakland –Today, the Department of Justice filed an anti-trust lawsuit to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile. Among their top concerns: less competition, higher prices, reduced quality and fewer choices for the millions of Americans who rely on mobile wireless services in their everyday lives.
Posted on September 1, 2011 / By Hakim Bellamy By the end of our Prison Justice workshop two weeks ago, I learned a lot about Albuquerque. I learned that more than a few of us are deeply impacted by jails, immigration detention centers and our culture of incarceration in America. However, I also learned that Albuquerque’s alternative newspaper, the Weekly Alibi, cares about prison justice as much as we do.
By amalia deloney, Grassroots Policy Director at the Center for Media Justice. If the purchase of T-Mobile by AT&T is approved by federal regulators, it will be a disaster for all mobile phone users-- especially for people of color and low-income communities in rural and urban areas.
By Leticia Medina, Deputy Director of Media Justice League (part of the MAG-Net delegation participating in the CPE Summer Institute) “Does your head hurt? Are you confused? Good, that means you’re learning.” My classmates and I heard the preceding on a daily basis from Dr. Hector Saez at the Center for Popular Economics Summer Institute. The Summer Institute was a special track titled Media, Democracy and the Economy. For five days, Hector Sáez and Michelle Rosenfield dedicated themselves to opening up the world of popular (read: of or carried on by the people as a whole rather than restricted to politicians or political parties) economics. We talked about how economics inform all aspects of our lives and what exactly it means to live in a society that has built itself on a capitalist framework.
By Open Access Connections Economic recovery continues to be evasive. This is true for the thousands of people who use our free voice mail services daily, and now it is true for our organization as well. In the wake of the Minnesota state shutdown, Open Access Connections finds itself without a key grant through the Department of Human Services Office of Economic Opportunity. This is the first time since we began in 1994 that no funding from this department has been available to us. In addition, we have seen our longtime foundation donors cut their grants this year considerably or eliminate them altogether. This perfect storm poses a severe and imminent threat.
By Simon Maloy / Reposted from Media Matters As the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission review the proposed merger of telecom giants AT&T and T-Mobile, the two companies are sinking millions of dollars into their lobbying shops. Recently filed disclosure reports show that AT&T spent $4.9 million on lobbying in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 58 percent from the same time period last year. Similarly, T-Mobile increased its lobbying expenditures from $602,000 in the second quarter of 2010 to $1 million in second quarter of 2011. All told, the two telecom companies have spent about $14 million on lobbying this year alone. These numbers, however, offer an incomplete look at the AT&T/T-Mobile lobbying blitz. In the second quarter of this year the two companies spent about $1.3 million on outside lobbying firms that worked to boost government support for the merger. And those outside firms boast some heavy hitters who are going to bat for the increasingly controversial telecom deal. All told, AT&T and T-Mobile have no fewer than six former members of Congress, and a bevy of former congressional staffers, lobbying the federal government to approve the merger. This lobbying build-up comes as the merger, which had once been viewed as almost inevitable, runs into resistance from Capitol Hill and progressive advocacy groups. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), head of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, announced his opposition to the deal, saying it would be "highly dangerous to competition and consumers" and urging the FCC to block the merger. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has also come out against the deal, warning that it would create "an effective duopoly" that will "dictate the rules of the road for wireless networks." Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Edward Markey (D-MA), and John Conyers (D-MI) sent a letter to the FCC and the Justice Department in which they called the merger "a retrenchment from nearly two decades of promoting competition and open markets." If the merger were to be approved, AT&T and Verizon would control roughly 80 percent of all wireless carrier contracts. AT&T says the deal will not negatively impact competition and will increase service and spectrum availability for customers. Advocacy groups like Free Press, however, arguethat those increases will occur whether the merger happens or not, and customers will be stuck with price increases if the deal goes through. AT&T's massive lobbying operation is headed up by James Cicconi, a former aide to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush with deep political connections and wide-reaching influence. Last year, AT&T added about 90 lobbyists to its ranks, including several prominent former lawmakers, such as former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and former Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), both of whom served on the Senate Commerce Committee. Disclosure records show that AT&T paid the Breaux Lott Leadership Group $120,000 to lobby the House and the Senate on "issues related to" the T-Mobile merger. Breaux and Lott are the big names, but AT&T has a deep bench of Congressional alumni lobbying for the merger. From Alston & Bird, AT&T paid $50,000 for the services of former Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), who served on the House Commerce Committee. JC Watts Companies (founded by former Oklahoma Republican Rep. J.C. Watts), was paid $50,000 to have former Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA) lobby Congress. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld have dispatched former Rep. Vic Fazio (D-CA) to lobby the House and Senate on "policy issues related to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger." Former Rep. Jim Davis (D-FL), from Holland & Knight, is also lobbying Congress in support of the merger. In total, AT&T paid these four lobbying firms $380,000 in the second quarter. Backing up the former elected officials are a brigade of congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists. The Gibson Group and its principal, Joseph Gibson, the former chief of staff to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and former chief anti-trust counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, were paid $50,000 by AT&T. From the TCH Group, two former GOP Senate aides and a former staffer on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were paid $40,000. Wiley Rein, the law firm representing T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom in their push to have the Justice Department approve the merger, has also deployed former Congressional staffers Gregg Elias and Peter Krug to lobby for the merger on AT&T's behalf. T-Mobile, while clearly subordinate to AT&T in terms of resources and influence, is nonetheless bringing some insider clout to the merger review. T-Mobile's in-house lobbying shop features Anthony Russo, formerly counsel to Sen. Joe Biden (pre-VP days), and Michelle Persaud, who served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. The six outside lobbying firms T-Mobile hired to push the merger (at a cost of $260,000) boast theformer chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), Trent Lott's former chief of staff, the former chief counsel to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and the former chief of staff to former Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN). Below is a list of lobbying firms or lobbyists that listed AT&T or T-Mobile as a client and lobbied for the merger in the second quarter of 2011, with links to their disclosure forms. AT&T: Wiley Rein Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld Breaux-Lott Leadership Group Alston & Bird Holland & Knight Clyburn Consulting David Leach Polaris Government Relations The Gibson Group TCH Group Roberti Associates Peck, Madigan, Jones & Stewart Cassidy & Associates Capitol City Group Capitol Hill Strategies Dunkel Government Relations JC Watts Companies Mattoon & Associates T-Mobile: Cassidy & Associates Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli &Berzok Paula Timmons Steve Buyer Group Quinn, Gillespie & Associates David Leach
By Public Knowledge House Republicans proposed draft legislation last week that would let companies like AT&T and Verizon buy their way out of public interest obligations. Here's how:
By members of Latinos for Internet Freedom