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During the Donald Trump era, AT&T endured repeated shots from the president for its acquisition and ownership of CNN the cable news network he and his supporters regularly labeled as fake news.

Not even a year after a White House changing of the guard, the Dallas-based telecommunications giant is in the political culture wars crosshairs again. This time, its Democratic and moderate Republican activists taking aim at its financial support for burgeoning right-wing extremism in the U.S.

The ire stems from newly surfaced court testimony and records suggesting right-wing broadcast network One America News Network wouldnt exist without AT&Ts backing.

A week into the festering controversy, AT&Ts only public comment is a prepared statement to The Dallas Morning News.

AT&T has never had a financial interest in OANs success and does not fund OAN, the statement said in part. CNN is the only news network we fund because its a part of AT&T.

For a company that traces its history to Alexander Graham Bells invention of the telephone in 1876, its an uncomfortable spotlight thats only widened since the OAN revelation.

In the week following the Reuters report, the hashtag #BoycottATT harnessed mostly by democratic political organizations has reached 2.5 million users via hundreds of posts on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms, according to social media research firm Brandmentions.

OAN, the cable network owned by Robert Herring Sr., garnered frequent praise from Trump for its adoring coverage of his presidency. Its also been accused of spreading conspiracy theories, debunked lies about the outcome of the 2020 election and about the COVID-19 pandemic thats taken the lives of 722,000 Americans. In June, OAN anchor Pearson Sharp falsely claimed Democrats stole the election from Trump and suggested executing those responsible.

The OAN controversy is rooted in AT&Ts strategic shift into the world of media.

It embarked on a series of deals in the mid-2010s aimed at morphing its business from one that simply controls wired and wireless infrastructure into a modern media company that brings consumers entertainment and news content.

That played out during Randall Stephensons tenure as CEO. Now, his successor John Stankey is tasked with unraveling the multibillion-dollar deals that brought satellite cable provider DirecTV and Time Warner under its corporate umbrella and returning the company to its telecom roots.

The Reuters report, titled How AT&T helped build far-right One America News, cites 2019 testimony from OAN owner Herring in a court case unrelated to AT&T. He said AT&T executives were the inspiration for creating the network in 2013.

They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other [left wing] side, Herring said in a court deposition, according to the report.

OAN was being carried on AT&Ts U-Verse TV service when the company, ready to enter the world of media in a larger way, announced its intent to acquire DirecTV. Herring sued over concerns AT&T would migrate its U-Verse customers over to DirecTV, which didnt carry OAN.

AT&T eventually settled with OAN. According to Herring, the deal provided OAN with tens of millions of dollars over a five-year period, and a considerable platform on DirecTV for the nascent network to reach U.S. households.

The fees earned from OANs contract with AT&T-owned television platforms provide the network with 90% of its revenue, according to Reuters, citing statements made under oath by OANs accountant.

At one point shortly after the network launched, AT&T even attempted to buy a 5% stake in Herrings company, Reuters found.

Basically AT&T, at the time, came to them and dangled a real serious business partnership, Angelo Carusone, CEO of progressive media watchdog group Media Matters, said on MSNBC.

One was possibly investing and buying a chunk of the company, but the more tantalizing thing was to say, Well guarantee you enough revenue that even if you dont get commercials, even if you have almost no viewers, you will still be a profitable company as long as you exist and take this deal.

In its statement, AT&T downplayed its role in boosting the network.

When we acquired DirecTV, Herring pressured us for months to carry OAN. We rejected their offer and in response, Herring Networks sued us, claiming we deliberately intended to injure Herring. Only as part of the settlement of that lawsuit did DirecTV consent to a commercial carriage agreement with OAN four years ago.

But the fees committed to OAN in the carriage deal would have been about 18 times the market value at the time, Carusone said, referring to it as outrageously high. Reuters characterizes the relationship with AT&T as lucrative for OAN.

AT&T wasnt alone in wanting a piece of the network.

Roughly 10 months prior to the 2020 election, OANs growing importance in far-right political circles garnered the interest of conservatives across the country.

Led by a Dallas-based private equity arm of Hicks Holdings the Dallas family office of Tom Hicks, father of Republican National Committee co-chair Tommy Hicks Jr. Hicks Equity Partners was interested in making a bid for the network. That deal never materialized.

Marc Ambinder, a senior fellow at the University of Southern Californias Annenberg Center for Communication Leadership and Policy, described AT&Ts agreement to carry the network as a reflection of AT&Ts realization that right-wing eyeballs mean big money.

On Friday, Herring spoke out for the first time, describing the Reuters investigation as a biased hit piece and disputing the testimony from OANs own accountant about AT&Ts carriage fees making up 90% of the companys funding.

I wish it was [true], he said in an interview with his network. AT&T pays us a very small amount compared to what they pay other channels. We do get enough that we can survive on.

Herring said AT&T has never told the network what to broadcast.

All the people that are on the other side theyre all trying to get rid of us, Herring said. Were making some changes in America, and were going to keep doing that.

In August, AT&T completed a deal to spin off its TV and streaming business, including DirecTV, into a separate company it will co-manage with private equity group TPG Capital. AT&T said the new company is overseen by its own board of directors, where AT&T has non-controlling and equal representation with TPG.

The decision of whether to renew the OAN carriage agreement upon its expiration will be up to DirecTV, which is now a separate, independent company outside of AT&T, the company said in its statement. AT&T retained a 70% ownership stake in DirecTV.

But with a controversial Texas legislature continuing to push new laws, like those that limit the rights of LGBTQ Texans, the pressure on AT&T could stick around.

On Texas restrictive new abortion legislation, AT&T responded to its critics by saying it has never taken a position on the issue of abortion.

AT&T did not endorse nor support passage of Senate Bill 8 in the Texas legislature. AT&Ts employee political action committees have never based contribution decisions on a legislators positions on the issue of abortion, and employee PAC contributions to Texas legislators went to both opponents and supporters of Senate Bill 8, the company said in the statement.

But activists think one of Texas biggest corporate citizens should take a stand on abortion and other issues. Nonpartisan watchdog group Accountable.US called on AT&T to stand by its stated public values and condemn partisan redistricting by Texas Republicans.

Silence is complicity at this point. Especially in a state that theyve made their headquarters, American Bridges vice president of strategic communications Julie McClain-Downey said.

Read more from the original source:
Caught in the crosshairs: AT&T political donations, deal with OAN draw it into culture wars - The Dallas Morning News