Pai Media Blitz Seen by Allies as Smart, by Net Neutrality Advocates as Sign of Weakness

Pai kicked off his media campaign April 26 when he announced proposals to undo 2015 Title II broadband reclassification and revisit net neutrality rules (see 1704260054). Our tracking found appearances over the next three weeks with NBC Nightly News, Reason.com, CNBC, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Federalist Radio Hour, Tech Freedom, PBS NewsHour, Americans for Prosperity, Hugh Hewitt, Breitbart.com, Fox Business (here, here, here), Lars Larson, Iowa Public Radio, Glenn Beck, Freedom Works, Recode, Newsmax, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, the Washington Examiner, CNET, Rich Zeoli, NPR, American Enterprise Institute (here, here), Rare Politics, Cato Institute, Ronn Owens, Matt Lewis, Howie Carr Show, Grover Norquist, Independent Journalism Review "Mean Tweets," Daily Signal and USA Today. The FCC said he also spoke to CBS's This Morning and Evening News, KGFF Radio, CQ, The Weekly Standard, Fox and Friends and fivethirtyeight.com.

"This is an unusually extensive set of media appearances," ranging from mainstream media to think tanks to more specialized outlets and social media, emailed Gerald Brock, a George Washington University professor of public policy and public administration. He said it's not surprising Pai is seeking support, given "exceptional" interest and the experience of the 2014-15 net neutrality proceeding. Then, "non-standard media such as John Oliver's rant on Last Week Tonight appeared to generate a large number of comments in favor of the proposal and that creates an incentive for Chairman Pai to engage with a wide variety of outlets that might have some influence," Brock said. "Sustaining the current proposal through court battles and possible changes in political circumstances requires much broader support than just having a 2-1 majority."

Democrats didn't fault Pai's effort. "It is appropriate and useful for the Chairman to appear in all these forums," emailed former Chairman Reed Hundt. "While it's a really lot of media outreach, I think he's entitled to do that," emailed ex-acting Chairman Michael Copps. "A poor case does require more selling. But I would rather see him follow Commissioner [Mignon] Clyburn's model and get out of media land and go to where real people live and ask them what they think about net neutrality. ... More informing to him and more productive for us all." As chairman, Pai has visited a number of places nationwide, and the FCC announced he will be making a new road trip starting Monday to various states (see 1706020053)

Allies' Take

Republicans said Pai is wisely fighting the public opinion battle. It's "an issue that will play out in the media as well as behind the scenes," said former Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. She credited Copps with stirring up public concern about media ownership in the early 2000s, forcing GOP leadership compromises. "Facts and data are important, but you can't ignore the emotions or the politics," she said: Pai "is very smart to just recognize head-on that [net neutrality] is going to be a lot like media ownership, which is highly political and emotional."

Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly "are putting a premium on transparency," emailed ex-Commissioner Robert McDowell, noting the new practice of publicly releasing draft items before commissioners' meetings. "Their press access has been unparalleled and they are answering questions as thoroughly as they can," he emailed. "Almost every FCC chairman has been criticized for their media strategies -- which usually involved restricted access and opaqueness. So let's hope that critics aren't faulting Ajit and Mike for being too open and available. There's very little, if anything, left behind any curtain for folks on the outside to guess what they are thinking. You may disagree with them, but ... we know where they are headed."

The chairman is responding to "the circus atmosphere" of the 2014-2015 rulemaking and the issue's importance, said another former FCC commissioner now in industry. Then-Chairman Tom Wheeler "did a lot of outreach as well," said the ex-commissioner, citing social networking and digital advocacy as creating new challenges. "Given that Chairman Pai’s opponents work very aggressively to ignite and magnify public attacks on the man and the office, it seems he has little choice but to spend a great deal of time getting his message out surrounding his vision and agenda. So, I don’t find it unusual at all.”

Begging Conservatives?

The media campaign did raise some eyebrows. It's "remarkable because he doesn’t have a natural audience. The vast majority of Americans who care about these issues want net neutrality," said Gigi Sohn, who was a Wheeler aide. She said Wheeler did "more limited" outreach, in part because Title II net neutrality "was extraordinarily popular." Pai is "trying to remove something that's pretty popular, and that's going to take quite a sales job," she said. The appearances look tilted toward "antigovernment and free-market types," Sohn said. "If his goal is to get as much activism out of the free-market community, he's hitting all the right places."

The FCC chief "conducted numerous media interviews with outlets representing a wide range of perspectives in the three weeks leading up to the May open meeting to discuss his proposal for restoring internet freedom," emailed a spokesman. With the NPRM adopted, he said, Pai "wants to hear from all stakeholders" during the comment period.

Going through the list, "it looks like Pai is begging the conservative base to help him," said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. He said Pai's appeal to "antiregulatory" groups on rolling back Obama-era rules "doesn't show a lot of confidence" in his ability to win the public debate on the merits. "I take this very much as a sign of weakness." Feld said. "Pai understands he has a problem selling his plan. ... So he's got to go to the base and bang the drum." Pai and O'Rielly say the key is the quality of filed comments, Feld said, "but everybody knows there's a huge political component and the numbers matter."

It's also "about who calls members of Congress," Sohn said. Legislators "know who's melting down their phone lines," Feld said. "If members are hearing from pumped-up opponents of Pai's plan and not from his supporters, that's a problem. ... Members do have to run for re-election." Andrew Schwartzman, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation senior counselor, agreed the campaign suggests Pai recognizes his position is weak, but the effort doesn't seem "too far outside the range of normal."

It's "wishful thinking" to believe Pai's outreach "is somehow a sign of weakness or a weak plan," emailed ISP-backed group NetCompetition Chairman Scott Cleland, who said if Pai "somehow had a vulnerable or hard-to-defend Title II proposal, the LAST thing he would do is be more open, transparent and available to his supporters, critics, and the media than any FCC Chairman.” Cleland said Pai "wisely learned from predecessors and from his opposition. Net neutrality/Title II proponents dominate press coverage; it is strategy points 1-3 of the net neutrality playbook, ahead of stunts, late night TV lobbying, and stalking FCC Chairmen and their families at home. Fawning net neutrality media coverage has been and is the norm, and it is essential for net neutrality to 'punch above its weight class.'" It's "smart and necessary" to counter that, he said.