A report over at Public Integrity notes that more and more corporations are throwing money at civil rights groups, and in exchange convincing them to parrot support for bad public policy. We most recently saw this during AT&T's attempted takeover of T-Mobile, when oodles of minority groups that should be supporting more competition, lower prices, and fewer job cuts -- suddenly began magically repeating AT&T talking points on the subject.
The practice, alongside fake consumer groups, lobbyists, paid academics, hired pundits and think tanks, gives the illusion of broad support for policies that almost nearly always aren't in the public interest. It's not just minority groups either, it's any and every organization that's willing to take money in exchange for selling out their principles. AT&T has used everyone from
balloonist organizations to
cattle ranchers to support their policies.
This latest report claims the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council is only the latest and largest to fall trap to this cash trap, willing to sell its constituents out in exchange for sudden and breathless support for fewer media consolidation restrictions:
quote:
Critics say MMTC’s position may have something to do with its extensive industry funding. This includes more than $440,000 in luncheon sponsorships since 2010 from broadcast giants who favor the rule change.
And despite this fairly clear and conflicted shift for anyone who looks, the report notes the MMTC had the FCC's ear on media consolidation:
quote:
MMTC, which acts as a pro bono law firm on FCC issues for civil rights groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was vital if Genachowski was to get his plan approved. Two previous attempts to change the rule were slapped down by the courts, in part because of concern that greater media consolidation would reduce the number of minority media owners.
The group has also magically shifted its opinion on network neutrality after receiving major funding from companies including AT&T. Every time someone points out this is going on, the groups involved deny it all -- then proceed to continue selling out their constituents. While this tactic appears to have worked under Genachowski's leadership (with the exception of AT&T T-Mobile, which was such a bad deal he had to block it regardless or contradict the DOJ), it may not work as well under temporary FCC boss Mignon Clyburn. She's the very first FCC employee I've ever seen that
noticed and criticized this practice. How well the practice works when new FCC boss
and former lobbyist Tom Wheeler takes over the FCC remains to be seen.