[ NNSquad ] Losing on the Facts, AT&T Turns to Smears

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Losing on the Facts, AT&T Turns to Smears

http://j.mp/pGwXCF  (Huffington)

   "This isn't the first gaping hole to appear in AT&T's case. The company
    is already on its third "new model" explaining the benefits of the
    deal, because the FCC found the first two so lacking. And despite
    AT&T's transparent attempts to spin the Beltway press, key members of
    Congress and more and more consumers are pushing the FCC and the
    Department of Justice to reject the merger bid because of its obvious
    harms to competition, jobs and our wallets."

 - - -

As you probably have seen, AT&T is flooding the airwaves and the Net
with pro-merger commercials.  But I have detected some subtle changes.
When their campaign first began, AT&T's ads spoke of "substantial
investments" in their network.  Shortly thereafter, the wording in
those same commercials had changed to say "billions of dollars."

Also, the current set of most widely seen commercials says, the merger
*would* do this and that.  But I'm nearly certain that the original versions
said *will* do this and that.  I can't prove this though, since I can't find
the originals for direct comparison.

In any case, minor changes in the wording of commercials can often have
a lot of meaning.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator