Net Banality

I watched the net neutrality piece on the NewsHour and it was just sad. Journalism is dead dead dead. Listening to creepy Paul Misener and amoral Scott Cleland flog each other is not journalism. Any journalist with a non-negative IQ could come up with an piece that explores both sides of the issue.

I want to point out that I would not be a net neutrality advocate if people in the United States really did have true broadband competition. Deregulation of the cable industry has been an abject failure, except if you are Scott Cleland:

SCOTT CLELAND: We see a totally different world. The facts and the process are on our side. The FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Justice, they're the experts that determine the facts on the ground.

They both have ruled that there is sufficient broadband competition, that it doesn't require regulation. That went to the Supreme Court last summer. And the Supreme Court affirmed it.

Now, other people who should know, the House of Representatives took this issue up last -- a couple weeks ago, and voted resoundingly, 269 to 152 against net neutrality regulation, against regulating the 'net. And we expect the Senate, when it has a vote in committee and on the full floor, will have a similar vote to the House.

So the people that know and the people who have studied the facts on the ground have come up with a completely different conclusion than Mr. Misener is telling you.

So when I get pissed off at my outrageous cable bill, it must be because I'm an ignorant rube.