

Weiner's weiner or Meredith Baker's ethics, what deserves more press? - Chris_Dollar


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Chris_Dollar
Why do news stories such as Anthony Weiner's junk shot or Charlie Sheen's
implosion last for weeks in America's news cycle?

But there's hardly any news coverage of NBC-Universal merging with Comcast or
commentary on FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker cashing out to become Comcast's
chief lobbyist right after approving the merger?

Doesn't it seem that the latter story is what the 4th estate should be doing
in order to protect a functioning democracy?... or am I missing something?

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nandemo
Please leave political gossip out of HN.

~~~
Chris_Dollar
It's not political gossip, it's probably the most important question
concerning the future of a free and open Internet.

Are you familiar with the implications to the future of the Internet regarding
the merger between the largest ISP (Comcast) in the United States merging with
the largest content provider (NBC-U)?

Probably not, because there was no real news coverage of it...

But I bet you can tell me a lot about Congressman Anthony Weiner... And that's
my point.

~~~
nandemo
From the guidelines: _Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or
sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon_.

Mind you, a lot of HN readers (about half IIRC) are not in the US. Please have
some mercy on us. I completely accept that fact that HN news are biased to US,
because that's where most web startups are. But I'm sure there are many other
forums where you can discuss American politics.

For comparison, a series of uprisings in the Arab world is a very big thing.
Even conceding the extremely large importance of US in world politics, yet
another case of conflict of interest in American politics is not that new or
interesting. The fact that people pay more attention to sensationalistic news
than to important stuff is not new either.

~~~
Chris_Dollar
With all due respect, I think that you are missing the point.

Yes, the uprisings in the Arab world is a very big thing. Which is very much
connected to my point of criticizing the largest ISP in the U.S. merging with
the largest content provider. And the lack of media coverage in not only
American media coverage, but world media coverage. Keep in mind that the
economies of General Electric (which owns NBC-Universal) and Comcast are
larger than most nations in the world. Needless to say they weild a
significant amount of political power outside of the U.S.

The Internet was invented in the United States and it was invented as an open
medium (decentralized), this is the reason why totalitarian dictators in the
Arab world have such a hard time blocking communication within their regimes
that is critical of them. This construct is severely jeopardized by the merger
of these two companies... and once this construct is altered in the U.S. it
will permeate the entire globe, including the Arab world.

I do not want this to happen... but no one is talking about it... and that is
a major problem. This problem is not just the United States' problem, it is
the world's problem.

~~~
Chris_Dollar
Sorry nandemo, I don't mean to come off like an a-hole.

Watch this three minute video and I think you'll understand what I'm trying to
say.

<http://www.vimeo.com/24632073>

