Washington Post: Tweet about FCC member’s new job at Comcast sets off firestorm

Tweet about FCC member’s new job at Comcast sets off firestorm By Cecilia Kang, Published: May 19 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tweet-about-fcc-members-new-job-at-comcast-sets-off-firestorm/2011/05/19/AFZNiP7G_story.html?wpisrc=nl_tech

Comcast has absorbed a lot of criticism since its decision last week to hire Meredith Attwell Baker, a sitting member of the Federal Communications Commission.

But one critical remark really got under the company’s skin.

When an employee of Reel Grrls, a nonprofit educational program in Seattle, sent a tweet questioning Baker’s hiring after the commissioner voted to approve Comcast’s mega-venture with NBC Universal, Comcast’s reaction was swift and harsh.

The company cut off funding for Reel Grrls’ summer camp, where 15 teenage girls learn documentary script writing, editing and filmmaking.

The reaction to the funding cutoff was also severe — and added to consumer advocates’ criticism of Comcast. Some are trying to drum up a congressional investigation into whether Baker’s new job pre­sents a conflict of interest. Baker had criticized the FCC’s review of Comcast’s joint venture with NBC Universal for taking too long and voted in favor of the merger in a
4 to 1 decision in January.

[...]

Turns out that a Comcast executive in charge of sponsoring the Reel Grrls summer program was reading and wasn’t pleased. Last Friday, Comcast Vice President Steve Kipp wrote Reel Grrls an e-mail with a link to the tweet, saying the cable giant wouldn’t contribute the $18,000 it had promised for the film camp.

“I am frankly shocked that your organization is slamming us on Twitter,” Kipp wrote. The tweet “has put me in an indefensible position with my bosses. I cannot continue to ask them to approve funding for Reel Grrls, knowing that the digital footprint your organization has created about Comcast is a negative one.”

[...]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tweet-about-fcc-members-new-job-at-comcast-sets-off-firestorm/2011/05/19/AFZNiP7G_story.html?wpisrc=nl_tech

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