Wiley Rein & Fielding

Wiley Rein & Fielding (WRF) is a law firm with offices in Washington DC and northern Virginia that works in a wide variety of corporate law areas. In February 2007, Fred Fielding left "to become a counselor to President George W. Bush" in the Office of Counsel. The firm is also referred to as Wiley Rein. 

Defending fake news
In October 2006, Wiley Rein & Fielding law and lobby firm filed an appeal with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on behalf of the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), asking the agency to halt its investigation of 77 television stations found to have aired video news releases (VNRs) without disclosure. 

In the RTNDA filing, WRF portrayed the FCC's investigation as "an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into newsroom operations." Information the agency requested of the TV station owners will "consume the time, attention, and energy of innumerable station managers and employees, lawyers and consultants, professional membership and trade association representatives, etc. ... The investigation already has had a chilling effect on the dissemination of newsworthy information to the public," the filing states. Its conclusion opens, "Determining the content of a newscast, including when and how to identify sources, is at the very heart of the responsibilities of electronic journalists, and these decisions must remain far removed from government involvement or supervision." The filing was authored by WRF's Kathleen A. Kirby and Lawrence W. Secrest III. 

Interestingly, at least one WRF lawyer's interpretation of the FCC's April 2005 Public Notice on VNRs was substantially different than what the firm's October 2006 filing stated. In early 2005, WRF partner Rosemary Harold told Advertising Age that "What the FCC is saying is if it appears that someone got paid for putting it together and it's run in its entirety, even if furnished free to the stations, then it should be identified" (Ira Teinowitz and Matthew Creamer, "Fake news videos unmasked in FCC crackdown: Forced disclosure of VNR sources deals blow to controversial PR tactic," Advertising Age, April 18, 2005).

Defending drug companies' fake news
In March 1994, WRF authored a brief on behalf of the Media Institute, filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The brief was in support of an earlier Washington Legal Foundation filing, urging the FDA to not regulate pharmaceutical companies' promotion of off-label uses for drugs. "Far from being harmful, drug company distribution of information about off-label uses of their products 'can be a positive force,'" the filing claimed, according to a May 1994 article by James G. Dickinson in Medical Marketing & Media.

While the WRF filing was on behalf of the Media Institute, several other groups supported it, including the "Association of American Publishers (representing most commercial book publishers), the Society of Professional Journalists (representing 13,500 members), the Radio-Television News Directors Association, and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression (a University of Virginia affiliate in Charlottesville, VA, devoted solely to safe-guarding freedoms of speech and press in all forms)," according to Medical Marketing & Media.

The WRF filing "broadens the controversy beyond the mere policy statement that would impact industry-supported scientific and educational activities, to condemn FDA's longer-established policy requiring preclearance of video news releases," reported Medical Marketing & Media. "Boiled down to their essence, the Media Institute's comments would have FDA limit its regulation of medical product promotion to after-the-fact sanctions against proven false-and-misleading statements, as practiced by the Federal Trade Commission, which the Media Institute says 'is far more consistent with First Amendment values.'"

The WRF filing, in part, states, "FDA would have to show that its preclearance of video news releases is necessary to substantially alleviate whatever potentially harmful effects it identifies. With the enormous range of more reasonable remedies available to it, such as disclosures and after-the-fact enforcement, the FDA could not carry the burden imposed upon it by the Constitution and justify its preclearance requirement" (emphasis added).

Indecency issues
WRF has opposed FCC actions and Congressional legislation sanctioning TV and radio stations for broadcasting "indecent" content.

In April 2004, WRF's Kathleen Kirby told Broadcasting & Cable that "while the FCC has generally not focused on news programs for indecent material, local newscasts are now vulnerable. ... Alluding to the NBC-Bono decision, she noted that 'some words are inherently indecent and profane.' Context, she said, has been completely removed from the debate" (Steve McClellan, "Bleepinator Anyone? Stations install protection against on-air indecency," Broadcasting & Cable, April 26, 2004).

Founding partners

 * Richard E. Wiley, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
 * Bert W. Rein, former director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and was involved in Richard M. Nixon's 1968 campaign, as well as in the transition team to Reagan's first term.
 * Fred F. Fielding, former Counsel to the President, 1981-1986. Fielding left in February 2007, "to become a counselor to President George W. Bush."

Other notable partners
The head of its Food and Product Safety division, is Andrew S. Krulwich, the former General Counsul of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Other staff

 * Kathleen A. Kirby
 * Sam Q. Le

Notable former staff

 * Kevin J. Martin, current FCC chair
 * Amy F. Dunathan
 * Al Lambert
 * Kate Todd

Clients

 * BAE Systems
 * Belo
 * BellSouth
 * Emmis
 * Gannett
 * General Motors
 * Gray Television
 * Intelsat
 * Motorola
 * Newspaper Association of America
 * Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)
 * SBC
 * Verizon
 * Viacom/CBS
 * Zenith

WRF's lobbying list
WRF lobbyists registered in 2005 as working on behalf of the RTNDA are Susan Buck, Senior Public Policy Consultant, Bryan Cunningham, Gregg Elias (Partner), Kathleen A. Kirby, Of Counsel, Peter Krug, Public Policy Consultant and Mary Jo Manning, Of Counsel.

The Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives lists WRF as the registered lobbyist, as at October 2006, for:
 * A.H. Belo Corporation
 * Access Sprectrum
 * Air Carrier Association of America
 * Airtran Airways
 * Akron-Canton Regional Airport
 * American Insurance Association
 * American Risk Retention Coalition
 * AquilaINC.
 * Arch Capital Group
 * Association of American Universities
 * AT&T Services
 * Battery Council International
 * BellSouth
 * Bishop International Airport
 * Chevron Corporation
 * Colorado Gaming Association
 * Committee for Fair Beam Imports
 * CT Corporation
 * Earthy Energy & Environment
 * Emergency Steel Scrap Coalition
 * Emmis Communications Corporation
 * Entravision Communications Corporation
 * Frontier Airlines
 * Goss International Corporation
 * IntelSat
 * Iowa Telecom
 * Iridium Satellite
 * Kansas City Southern Railway Company
 * Management Resources Group
 * Midwest Research Institute
 * Motorala
 * Mr. Yang Rong C/o Vincent Sun
 * National Association of Broadcasters
 * National City Corporation
 * National Religous Broadcasters Music License Committee
 * Neustar
 * Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport
 * Newspaper Association of America
 * NTP, INC. C/O Hunton Williams
 * NUcor Corporation
 * Philips Electronics
 * Portable Rechargeable Battery Association
 * Puerto Rico Telephone Company
 * Radio-Television News Directors Association
 * Rebar Trade Action Coalition
 * Satellite Industry Association
 * SBC Telecommunications
 * Sirius Satellite Radio
 * Television Operators Caucas
 * Gannett
 * The Information Policy Institute
 * The Marck Travel Group
 * Truste
 * United Parcel Service
 * Verizon Communications
 * Verizon Wireless
 * Western Forest Products
 * Wheat Gluten Industry Council

Washington office
1776 K Street NW Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202.719.7000 Fax: 202.719.7049

Northern Virginia office
7925 Jones Branch Drive Suite 6200 McLean, VA 22102 Phone: 703.905.2800 Fax: 703.905.2820 Website:http://www.wrf.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Fake news
 * Video news releases
 * Radio-Television News Directors Association

External articles

 * "Wiley Rein & Fielding Archives," AboveTheLaw.com''.
 * Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP, "Critique of the Center for Media and Democracy’s 'Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed' Report", Radio-Television News Directors Association, September 15, 2006.
 * Diane Farsetta, "Rebuttal of the Radio-Television News Directors Association's "Fake TV News" Report Critique", Center for Media and Democracy, October 9, 2006.
 * John Eggerton, "Fred Fielding Leaves Law Firm To Assist Bush," Broadcasting & Cable, February 1, 2007.
 * David Lat, "Musical Chairs: Fred Fielding Beefs Up the White House Counsel's Office," AboveTheLaw.com, February 14, 2007.