Net Neutrality advocates are planning two days of protest in Washington, D.C., this month as they fight plans to defang regulations designed to protect the open internet.

ProPublica is launching a “PAC” to scrutinize campaign ads on Facebook.

The author of a GAO report critical of the FCC's Lifeline program said the Commission's 2016 reforms may resolve some concerns of waste, fraud and abuse. Free Press Deputy Director Jessica Gonzalez called the report "outdated" and "sensationalized."

Perceptions of waste and abuse in the subsidized Lifeline program often stem from “overblown, and frankly offensive" assumptions about poor and minority communities, a representative from Free Press told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Last year, for the first time since the advent of broadband technology, the FCC passed strict rules governing customer privacy for Internet service providers. Five months later, Congress voted to kill the rules. Because President Donald Trump signed the resolution repealing the rules, no federal agency has the authority to protect the privacy of broadband customers.

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former campaign chief and strategist, could take on an even more high-profile role just as the broadcast industry goes through far-reaching changes the new administration largely brought about.

Sinclair Broadcast Group's proposed $3.9 billion buyout of Tribune Media would raise prices for consumers, harm media diversity and consolidate too much power in the hands of a single corporate giant, threatening "the health of American democracy," according to critics of the deal who are urging federal regulators to block the merger.

Progressive media watchdog groups, Rupert Murdoch and conservative news outlets all want to stop a merger between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media.

After New Jersey sold its public television licenses for $332 million, the Senate and Assembly majority leaders proposed establishing a fund that would pay for journalistic initiatives and civic-information programs through partnerships with state universities. The state would put $20 million a year for five years into the fund.

If a planned sale of the station — along with dozens of other TV outlets from coast to coast — to the Sinclair Broadcast Group wins approval from federal regulators, PHL17 may become the go-to place on your local remote for pro-Trump curveballs from the “Terrorism Alert Desk” and a blast of commentaries supporting President Trump during the run-up to the 2020 election.