Did you experience that Comcast ghostwrites endorsement varsity letter from politicians to the Federal Communications Commission about its awful uniting with Time Warner Cable ? Like , a Comcast flak literally puts words in local leaders ’ mouths and then expend them as evidence that America likes this fusion .
Bad news , for certain . Not surprising news program , however .
The latest report on how the rabid telecommunication heavyweight attempts to influence the FCC ’s decisions with fake missive from unsuspecting local leader is just further evidence that Comcast is political animal , using everything from lobbyist to psyops to rig public opinion . The company ’s been nobble organization into assume its side ( e.g. getting others to support its TWC merger or to oppose net neutrality)for years .
Again , this is no surprisal . Regardless of whether the American hoi polloi really do detest Comcast so much — and they do — Comcast is drop a lot of money trying to make the right people , like policymakers , believe otherwise . How do they do it , precisely ? lease me count the shipway .
Ghostwriting
Comcast writes letters for politicians . That ’s the very simple explanation . The more complex version is that Comcast write alphabetic character for democratically elect pol , many of whom they also give money to . It ’s kind of the opposite of how ghostwriting is think to play . Comcast pays for the privilegeof ghostwriting a letterfrom your local drawing card to the Union government porter of its choice . Those letters unavoidably make Comcast seem like a wonderful , loving company with America ’s best interest in mind . All the local drawing card has to do is signboard at the bottom .
Sound popular ? LOL nope . But it ’s how Comcast does business . The Vergejust detail several examples of Comcast ’s ghostwriting lettersfrom politicians to the FCC , letter that do anything from championing the TWC merger to glowing about Comcast ’s outgo on local substructure .
The overall effect , of course , is to make a soundbox of evidence that Comcast is not an vicious society and should be allow to turn , irrespective of its monopolistic intents . That result , Comcast hopes , will contribute to policymakers making insurance policy that favors Comcast ’s involvement . It ’s no coincidence that a lot of the letters the FCC ’s been receiving to this effect look very similar . They ’re all write by Comcast goons ! And again , this variety of thinghas been materialize for years .
Propagandizing
When it derive down to it , ghostwritten letters are a slightly more sophisticated version of straight up propaganda . That does n’t think that Comcast is below propagandizing . Quite the opposite , in fact .
As long as a decade ago , Comcast was combatting municipal broadband enterprisingness across the country with good old fashioned misinformation campaigns . Motherboard spotlight on flier - based campaign that Comcastembarked upon in Illinois a few years ago . The fliers led with arresting headlines like : “ Having Halloween Nightmares ? shade ? Goblins ? Wiccan ? … A Municipal Broadband Utility ? ” What follow on the slightly cheesy and overall generic publications were belie fact about municipal broadband and its discontents . If you squinch at the fine print , you could scarcely make out the line “ pay off for by Comcast . ”
The propaganda worked in this compositor’s case . Although the municipal broadband measures were highly favored in the poll parrot , they were defeated on two disjoined occasion after citizen were drowned in misinformation . And to think Comcast did n’t even have to personate any politicians ! This was just honorable old fashioned manipulation . Comcast has really doubled - down on this kind of thingwith its bogus statements in the net neutrality debate , too .
Old-Fashioned Lobbying
While Comcast for certain sets itself apart for non - traditional feeler to magic , the telecommunication giant is still great at sure-enough fashioned lobbying . This is the insidery stain of revolving door politick a lot of patriot Americans care did n’t be . And it ’s all , mostly , legal .
Take the revolving door element of lobbying . Comcast is great at this . The party employs a twelve industry leaders who used to work in the public sector and now force Comcast ’s anti - last disinterest docket in Washington . Five of those 12 used to function for the FCC itself . FCC chairperson Tom Wheeler ’s legal advisor used to figure out for Comcast , while Wheeler himself used to represent Comcast as the proud Chief Executive of theCellular Telecom and Internet Association(CTIA ) . Meredith Atwell Baker , a former FCC commissioner who voted in favor of the Comcast - NBC Universal deal before becoming a VP a Comcast - NBC Universal , is in the incoming CTIA president .
An even more straightforward approach to lobbying , however , involves just throwing money at the issues . Comcast is also really good at this — in part because they seem to have more money than morals . If you calculate at the lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are tasked with regulating big telecommunication , for instance , Comcasthas given almost every exclusive one of them many G of dollarsworth of campaign contribution . To bring up , many of these politiciansmaintain personal investment in Comcast and other vainglorious cable companiesthat they regulate . Although to be fair , that ’s as much a sign of a unclean politician as it is a dirty lobbying strategy .
The listing of Comcast ’s manipulations goes on . However , in aggregate , the whole approach total to a twisted act of impersonation . Comcast pretends to lay out the interest group of the fair American on an prescribed level by inserting its interests in the popular process . Whether this is by buying the voices of democratically elect official or tinge the facts in democratic determination - making , Comcast want to separate the government what you need . The company is actually doing that actively .
What can you do about it ? Well if you ’re lucky enough to have the option , you could stop corrupt Comcast ’s services . you could also support President Obama ’s new initiative to advance investment in municipal broadband projects thatstand to loose Comcast ’s chokehold on the net .
However , anybody can file a ( real ) comment or complaint with the FCC and yell at their Congressman or Senator for take aim Comcast ’s dirty money . Feel innocent not to elect leaders that take money from Comcast , too . After all , rottenness is best addressed before it starts .
simulacrum by Michael Hession
ComcastInternetNet neutralityPolitics
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