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YMAIL DEMAND PROGRESS

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is dragging NPR and PBS in front of her Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee in a coordinated attack on the public broadcasters.1

Elon Musk and Greene are accusing NPR and PBS of “biased” coverage and “propaganda.”2 This comes just days after Trump’s FCC opened federal investigations into the broadcasters.3

This is all a targeted campaign to defund PBS and NPR, getting rid of reliable public media so Trump, Musk, and Greene’s network of right-wing disinformation can grow even more powerful. Congress must not allow the far-right to destroy public media.

Sign the petition: Save PBS and NPR from Trump, Musk, and Greene’s campaign to slash critical funding from public media.

When he opened the federal investigation into PBS and NPR, Trump’s FCC Chair, Brendan Carr wrote, “Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS”4 — a direct threat to funding that NPR and PBS need to survive.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote last week that she wanted PBS to explain “why lying and spreading propaganda to serve the Democrat party and attack Republicans is a good use of taxpayer funds.”5 This is straight from Trump’s media playbook: to accuse any and all trustworthy journalism as lying, propaganda, and biased against him.

It’s exactly how Musk and Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to destroy PBS and NPR. But we can’t let them crush public journalism.

Sign the petition: Save PBS and NPR from Musk, Trump, and Greene’s right-wing attacks!

Sources:

  1. GOP Oversight on Twitter, “NPR & PBS CALLED TO TESTIFY,” February 3, 2025.
  2. Elon Musk on Twitter, “Taxpayer money should not be used to fund propaganda,” January 12, 2025.
  3. New York Times, “F.C.C. Chair Orders Investigation Into NPR and PBS Stations,” January 30, 2025.
  4. Ibid.
  5. The New Republic, “MTG Threatens PBS for Accurately Describing Elon Musk’s Salute,” January 21, 2025.

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an 11 24common dr

Consumer advocates applauded last month as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule aimed at making it easier for people to switch financial institutions if they're unhappy with a bank's service, without the bank retaining their personal data—but on Thursday, more than a dozen groups warned the CFPB that major Wall Street firms are trying to stop Americans from benefiting from the rule.

Several advocacy groups, led by the Demand Progress Education Fund, wrote to CFPB director Rohit Chopra warning that major banks—including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo—sit on the board of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), which has applied to the bureau for standard-setting body (SSB) status, which would give it authority over what is commonly known as the "open banking rule."

Standard-setting authority for the banks would present a major conflict of interest, said the groups.

The banks are also on the board of the Bank Policy Institute, which promptly filed what the consumer advocates called a "frivolous lawsuit" to block the open banking rule when it was introduced last month, claiming it will keep banks from protecting customer data.

At a panel discussion this week, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan also said the open banking rule, by requiring financial firms to unlock a consumer's financial data and transfer it to another provider for free, would cause "chaos" and amplify concerns over fraud.

The groups wrote on Thursday that big banks want to continue to "maintain their dominance by making it unduly difficult for consumers to switch institutions."

"The presence of these organizations on both the FDX and BPI boards undermines the credibility of FDX and presents various concerns relating to conflict of interest, interlocking directorate, and antitrust law," they wrote.

Upon introducing the finalized rule last month, Chopra said the action would "give people more power to get better rates and service on bank accounts, credit cards, and more" and help those who are "stuck in financial products with lousy rates and service."

The coalition of consumer advocacy groups—including Public Citizen, the American Economic Liberties Project, and Americans for Financial Reform—urged Chopra to reject FDX's application for standard-setting authority so long as the banks remain on its board.

“It would be a flagrant conflict of interest for the same banks who are suing to block the open banking rule because it threatens their market dominance to also be in charge of implementing it," said Demand Progress Education Fund corporate power director Emily Peterson-Cassin. "The American people are fed up with Wall Street controlling every aspect of their lives and the open banking rule is an opportunity to give all of us some financial freedom. The CFPB must stop this ploy by the biggest banks to keep us trapped under their thumbs."

The groups called the open banking rule "a historic step forward for the cause of giving consumers true freedom intheir financial lives."

"For this reason, it is imperative that SSB status not be granted to an organization whose board members are, either directly or through a trade association they are participating in, suing the CFPB to stop the rules from taking effect, particularly when such members may be ethically conflicted from such dual participation," said the groups. "By rejecting SSB status for FDX or any other organization with similar conflicts of interest pertaining to Section 1033, the CFPB will help prevent big banks from sabotaging open banking rules."

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via yahoo mail

12/22

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation has cooked up a new fee to charge TV provider DirecTV — and if it goes into effect, DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse customers nationwide are likely to get stuck with higher prices for their cable service.1 Tell DirecTV: say NO to Fox’s new carriage fee!

we need DirecTV to stand up to Fox to save consumers from exorbitant fees because the Supreme Court has ruled cable networks like Fox fall outside of the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction.2 In cases like these, smaller corporations can be our ally in fighting price gouging.

But the fact that Fox is largely insulated from the FCC hasn’t stopped Rupert Murdoch from fighting tooth and nail to sabotage this critical institution.We haven’t had a functioning FCC for the entirety of Biden’s presidency because the Senate — pressured by Fox and Comcast — has refused to confirm Biden’s nominee for FCC Chair, Gigi Sohn. Comcast and Fox News have paid for lobbyists to actively court swing votes in the Senate against Sohn.2

Fox News has been pushingfalse narrativesthat Gigi Sohn would harm rural America, that she wants to censor conservatives, and that she’s bad for media diversity. As telecoms reporter Karl Bode put it, “None of these are supported by any facts that you can find if you spend 30 minutes objectively researching her record.”2

Fox’s smear campaign makes clear: cable news will stop at nothing to clear the way for profiteering. We need TV providers to resist, and we demand the Senate get in gear!

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/internet-defenders-say-net-neutrality-isnt-yet-dead-most-important-battle-begins