Ted Cruz on the Joe Pags Show

Media and the Press

RSF’s index stresses threats against journalists in Asia, audiences’ need for free press
Broadcasting Board of Governors
April 26, 2017
The media environment in Radio Free Asia’s broadcast region further declined, according to Reporters Without Borders’s 2017 Press Freedom Index. Radio Free Asia (RFA) President Libby Liu said the report’s findings underscore the importance of RFA’s mission in countries that censor and restrict access to independent, reliable news and information. Seven of RFA’s nine language services operate in countries that were ranked in the bottom 10 percent of the survey, with North Korea ranked dead last, and China and Vietnam named the world’s biggest jailers of bloggers and journalists.
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9th Circuit urged to uphold First Amendment freedoms of investigative journalists
Alliance Defending Freedom
April 21, 2017
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List Education Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that encourages the full court to take up the case of David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress and uphold First Amendment freedoms for investigative journalists.
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Communications

ISAKSON FIGHTS FOR RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS
Senator Johnny Isakson - (R - GA)
April 11, 2017
Under current rules, Universal Service Fund (USF) support for broadband in rural areas comes with the outdated requirement that customers also sign up for traditional landline phone service. When rural customers decide they no longer need traditional landline phone service in favor of wireless or Internet-based phone services, rural communities served by smaller telecommunication providers lose access to USF support for broadband deployment, even if the customer continues to pay for broadband Internet service.
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Fischer, Klobuchar Lead Bipartisan Letter to FCC on Rural Broadband
Senator Deb Fischer- (R - NE)
April 11, 2017
In the letter, addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the senators urged the agency to take additional steps to continue advancing broadband deployment in our nation’s rural areas. They also expressed concerns about the high cost of these critical services in many rural communities and stressed that more Americans should have the opportunity to purchase affordable broadband to keep them connected.
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