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FCC Emails Show Agency Spread Lies To Bolster Dubious DDoS Attack Claims: Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
As the FCC was grappling with accusations of a fake cyberattack last spring, it intentionally misled several news organizations, choosing to feed journalists false information, while at the same time discouraging them from challenging the agency's official story, news outlet Gizmodo reported Tuesday. From the report: Internal emails reviewed by Gizmodo lay bare the agency's efforts to counter rife speculation that senior officials manufactured a cyberattack, allegedly to explain away technical problems plaguing the FCC's comment system amid its high-profile collection of public comments on a controversial and since-passed proposal to overturn federal net neutrality rules.
The FCC has been unwilling or unable to produce any evidence an attack occurred -- not to the reporters who've requested and even sued over it, and not to U.S. lawmakers who've demanded to see it. Instead, the agency conducted a quiet campaign to bolster its cyberattack story with the aid of friendly and easily duped reporters, chiefly by spreading word of an earlier cyberattack that its own security staff say never happened.
The FCC has been unwilling or unable to produce any evidence an attack occurred -- not to the reporters who've requested and even sued over it, and not to U.S. lawmakers who've demanded to see it. Instead, the agency conducted a quiet campaign to bolster its cyberattack story with the aid of friendly and easily duped reporters, chiefly by spreading word of an earlier cyberattack that its own security staff say never happened.
Kinda like the NYT and CNN pushing a story of immigrant kids in cages using a picture from the Obama days, eh?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
They are nominated with restrictions
Only three commissioners can be of the same party as the seated "President". The previous President was forced to appoint Pai the shill under that part of the law. Dumpsterfire merely promoted him to the top.
I agree with your main point though. Spewy McShitfountain (Dumpsterfire) didn't select anyone for the good of the country.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Yeah, the differences is NYC and CNN often publish retractions. Fox tends to buckle down and defend its falsehoods even harder.
Point is, it's a valid example of media bias. And they're in no way "lost kids," rather cases where the people they were placed with didn't respond when contacted. That characterization legitimizes Trump's claims of "fake news," because it's deliberately misleading.
And to be fair, the numbers I gave although correct, are also misleading because the pools were of dissimilar size. The non-response rate was similar (within a few percent) under both administrations. It's a brouhaha in a teakettle, and impugns media integrity.
IMHO, there's a very, very, small news media these days. It's mostly 7/24 channels calling themselves "news," when in fact they're resorting to editorial, punditry and sensationalism to compete and fill all that time/space. The mainstream media seemed much more fair and balanced when it was only a few TV networks doing an hour a day, a few weekly magazines covering issues in more depth, and a daily newspaper.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law