A bar graph shows the coverage of SOPA versus other news stories in television broadcasts by major media corporations
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Non-profit research organization Media Matters for America has released statistics that illustrate how much media conglomerates spent on hiring firms to lobby SOPA and PIPA. In total, it is estimated that 28 different lobbying firms were hired to lobby Congress on SOPA and PIPA.
Media Matters says Comcast spent upwards of $90,000 on contracts with 19 different firms. News Corp spent $265,000 on contracts with five different firms, Time Wartner dedicated $62,000 to one firm to lobby only on SOPA and PIPA, and CBS paid a lobbying firm $75,000 to lobby on SOPA and PIPA, as well as other issues.
In the fourth quarter, Disney spent $1,190,000 on lobbying expenditures, although it is unclear what percentage of that was spent on lobbying SOPA and PIPA.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association spent $30,000 to hire a firm to lobby solely on SOPA and PIPA.
This is in contrast to the more grassroots approach from the tech industry which focused its anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA campaign on organic awareness through social media channels, planned blackouts, and industry events like HostingCon where there was already a vested interest in protesting the legislation.
Since Wikipedia does not generate revenue from advertisers, it did not lose any money in its 24-hour blackout. Reddit has an advertising program but it is unclear how much ad revenue, if any, was lost during its 12-hour outage. Many other sites that spread the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA word on January 18 did not fully blackout their website, instead displaying the anti-PIPA/anti-SOPA message as a banner or a pop-up screen.
Media Matters has been critical of the mainstream media’s coverage of SOPA and PIPA, in particular the lack of coverage in the evening news broadcasts of Fox, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC. The link between the lack of coverage and the money spent on lobbying the legislation is not surprising, though Media Matters did say their online counterparts posted regular articles about the protests against the legislation.
According to Media Matters, Comcast, Time Warner, News Corp, Disney and the NCTA did not respond to requests for comment while CBS Corporation declined to comment on the research.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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