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from: Ars Technica

FCC Chairman Suspects ‘Grassroots’ Astroturfing in à la Carte Debate

August 28, 2007
By Nate Anderson

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin isn’t usually associated with groups like Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), Free Press, and the Consumer Federation of America, but he’s with them on the issue of à la carte cable. The groups—and Martin—are in favor of à la carte cable, and all coincidentally believe that much of the “grassroots” opposition to the idea is actually cable-funded astroturf (that is, fake grassroots movements) meant to sway public opinion.

Yet when Martin said this publicly, he quickly found himself under attack by Black and Hispanic interest groups who felt their views were being unfairly dismissed. The two groups joined together to ask Martin for an apology after a recent speech in which he made the claim, and Martin has since done just that (PDF), saying that he has “the utmost respect and appreciation for the work and views expressed by” the groups.

But in his reply, Martin did not back down from his statement, which was based on a report from the Center for Public Integrity. That report pointed out that cable companies routinely fund minority groups in order to make the à la carte debate appear to be about the alleged loss of niche and minority programming that would happen if an à la carte scheme was mandated.