New Book Pulls Back Curtain on Politics Behind Telecomm

For immediate release

contact:  Jerry Irvine

May 3, 2005

New America Foundation

(301) 801-3356 or irvine@newamerica.net

 

America’s DTV Fiasco

New Book Explains How Politicians and Broadcasters Collude

Against the Public Interest

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
How Local TV Broadcasters Exert Political Power

By J.H. Snider

(WASHINGTON, DC)— The New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think-tank, announces the publication of Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick by Senior Research Fellow J.H. Snider.  The New America Foundation’s Wireless Futures Program promotes a more fair and efficient allocation of the airwaves.

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, local TV broadcasters won free use of spectrum frequencies worth tens of billions of dollars. Since then, they have won numerous additional subsidies, including more free spectrum, tax breaks, and discounted use of others’ intellectual property. Speak Softly describes how local TV broadcasters, led by the National Association of Broadcasters, achieved these lobbying feats.  

As Congress gears up to “fix” its mistakes by legislating a deadline to end the long-stalled DTV transition, Speak Softly provides a timely warning why the same mistakes are likely to be repeated. Author J.H. Snider, a D.C.-based political scientist, states “Congress responds to power, and the broadcast industry is notoriously powerful. Can you think of any politician who has paid a price for this multibillion dollar fiasco at the public’s expense? I cannot.”  

Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, says “Snider lifts up the veil of secrecy to reveal the inner workings of one of the most powerful political lobbying groups in the U.S. Through ground-breaking research, [he] documents how the National Association of Broadcasters and local TV station owners have set the policy agenda for Congress and the FCC. Speak Softly will become the key source for those who desire to understand how decisions about TV and spectrum policy are really made in Washington.”

Adds Michael Calabrese, Director of New America’s Wireless Futures Program, “This book provides a timely contribution to the ongoing debate on the DTV transition and should be a wakeup call for those concerned about the special interest politics currently driving spectrum policy.”

An extensive list of comments on the book can be found at http://jhsnider.net/SpeakSoftly/PraiseForSpeakSoftly.htm.

About the Author

J.H. Snider, co-author of Future Shop (St. Martin’s Press), is a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington think-tank. His work has appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, U.S.A. Today, and Atlantic Monthly. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard University.  Research included in Speak Softly won awards from the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference and Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.  For links to Snider’s recent work, including the Citizen’s Guide to the Airwaves and the Cartoon Guide to Federal Spectrum Policy, see www.spectrumpolicy.net.

For information on ordering a copy of the book, visit here.

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