Politico Gets the Lede Way Wrong - and The Hill Buries It

December 1st, 2014 10:36 AM

As we’ve often discussed, the Tech World Media is just as hopelessly Leftist and lost as the broader Jurassic Press. They so often get it so very wrong - often because their absurd political perspective warps their alleged “reporting.” 

Saturday gave us two additional exquisite examples - one each in Politico and The Hill

Politico’s headline and sub-head are simply ridiculous.

GOP's Tech Hurdle: They Don't Always Get It

2016 candidates want tech money but clash with industry on policy.

Umm…it’s a big industry - with a lot of companies with a lot of policy issues they would like addressed. 

There are of course LOTS of tech companies with whom the GOP doesn’t clash much at all. 

There are LOTS of the companies Politico means when they say “industry” with whom the GOP does in fact agree on a lot of issues (H-1B visas, anyone?).

For some reason, Politico doesn’t count as industry the companies without whom the rest of industry couldn’t exist - the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). 

If the likes of Verizon and Comcast hadn’t invested in the World Wide Web’s networks about a trillion dollars in the last decade, we would never have heard of the likes of Google and Netflix - that Politico bizarrely, exclusively means as “industry.”

ISPs build the roads.  Politico picks fights for their favored “industry” vehicles - without even acknowledging the construction companies that get them everywhere.

A major policy Politico means is Network Neutrality.  Companies like Google and Netflix want government to mandate via Net Neutrality that their free ride on the ISPs’ roads continues unabated.  And why wouldn’t Google and Netflix want that protectionism?

Netflix, (Google’s) YouTube Make Up More Than Half of…Internet Traffic in North America

Net Neutrality - as the Obama Democrats intend to impose it - is a gi-normous uber-regulatory nightmare mess.  That will strangle the Golden Geese that have been laying the Yellow Brick Roads for all to travel. 

The ISPs want to remain able to negotiate deals with these huge bandwidth hogs - to have them pay for being huge bandwidth hogs.  Otherwise We the Consumers will continue to pay higher ISP fees - to continue our subsidization of the profits of the Googles and Netflixes.

This Net Neutrality is nothing more than Democrat-donor corporations demanding Crony Socialism.  (It’s not Crony Capitalism - because it has very little to do with capitalism.)

Obama’s Call for ‘Open Internet’ Is All About Google, Amazon and Netflix

Don't underestimate the rising political clout of Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook.

(T)hey want (the government) to limit the ability of Internet Service Providers led by Comcast and Verizon to control which content moves at what speed and at what price.

Of course they do.  The question is - why do much of the Media?

Media like The Hill.  That absolutely buries - under 630 words of preceding text - the only viable legal/policy option.

Five Options for Feds on Net Neutrality

President Obamas plan….

The FCC’s original plan….

Implement hybrid rules….

Do nothing

Why is “Do nothing” the only viable legal/policy option?

GOP lawmakers and the two Republican commissioners sitting on the (Federal Communications Commission) FCC have said (FCC Chairman Tom) Wheeler should wait for Congress to act. 

The courts have twice tossed out attempts to regulate the Web, they note, so the writing should be on the wall.

Indeed it should be.  In fact it is.

The GOP is reading it.  Of course the Huge-Government-to-the-highest-bidder Obama Democrats - who don’t even peruse their own bills - don’t want to.

Neither, it would appear, do the Clueless-Joe-Jackson Jurassic Press.