What Does $400,000 (plus) Buy the Bells?

By Art Brodsky

This Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee will have its hearing on the 135-page telecom bill Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced. The bill ignores the threats to a neutral and open Internet.

Knowing this bill is up for discussion, what kind images and messages do the telephone companies want to present to Congress? Take a trip through one jam-packed edition of the Washington Post and see what about $400k will buy. Be warned. The journey has many twists and turns.

~snip

In a series of full-page ads, we got a pretty good look at the mindset of the companies -- a sense of desperation, if not downright distortion, sprinkled with a little bit of discontinuity. Let’s see what they (and you) got for their money (based on the Post rate card for advocacy ads.)

cont.