In Praise of Masterful Moderators
Good morning, darlings! Yesterday, the Lincoln Network hosted a panel event moderated by Axios’s chief technology correspondent Ina Fried on broadband access. The highlight was Fried’s fireside chat with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai - we walked past net neutrality protestors on our way there. Fried was a really great moderator, employing a natural rapport with Pai while making sure to push him on the issues that many in the audience were (respectively) clamoring to hear him discuss.
My favorite moment was after a couple of attempts at asking a tough question on telecoms and the dangers of monopolies and not receiving a satisfactory answer, Fried turned to the audience and said “maybe one of you can rephrase this during Q+A. Hey, I tried.” And I do have to say that, no matter your politics and where you fall on Title II, Chairman Pai obviously loves his job, and was able to go deep and wonky on program specifics. When he wanted to.
So yea, only two things to direct your attention to this morning:
According to The Daily Beast, Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault is not liked within the West Wing, with staffers leaking that “the longtime Trump confidant is isolated inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as she quietly plots against her fellow senior officials.” Yeesh.
And speaking of yeesh, BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith takes big tech to (policy) task in “There's Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley.”
I really do love and appreciate y'all. Until tomorrow!