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Media Executives Lobbying With the Stars

Over the weekend, top executives of media companies, newspapers and radio enjoyed mixing with celebrities and political leaders at the White House Correspondents Dinner. As news organizations become part of larger media and entertainment companies, their lobbying interests often mix news and entertainment legislative concerns. Media organization lobbyists placing a celebrity next to a legislator or executive branch official can get a nice thank you that could make for a more pleasant reception when serious lobbying is needed later on.

Media organizations lobby the executive and legislative branches just like other interest groups in Washington. D.C. Some of these organizations have many areas of legislative interest, and only one overall expenditure figure is reported. Here are some of the players and their lobby spending in the first quarter of 2013:

Comcast Corporation $4,480,000
National Cable & Telecommunications Association $4,170,000
National Association of Broadcasters $3,290,000
Time Warner Cable Inc. $1,870,000
News America $1,220,000
CBS Corporation $870,000
Disney Worldwide Services $790,000
Cox Enterprises $790,000
Viacom International Services Inc. $470,000
Univision Communications $237,500
Liberty Media $230,000
Newspaper Association of America $180,000
Bloomberg LP $150,000
Thomson Reuters $70,000
Hearst Corporation $70,000
Association of Public Television Stations $50,000
Scripps Network $50,000
National Cable Television Association $45,000
Tribune Company $24,782

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