March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30
31
News Every Day |

Big telecom’s relentless lobbying is pushing Gigi Sohn’s FCC nomination to the brink

Gigi Sohn

A relentless media smear campaign is helping launder harmful congressional inaction on the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), leaving the nation’s top telecom regulator gridlocked and unable to implement meaningful reform. It's also holding hostage the nomination of a popular reformer with a long history of standing up to U.S. telecom monopolies. 

A source close to the process says the Biden administration remains committed to pushing Gigi Sohn to the FCC, giving Democrats a majority on the agency tasked with overseeing America’s internet. Yet the administration has provided little public support for Sohn, leaving her largely alone in a fight against a $1.7 trillion industry dedicated to crushing her candidacy. 

After an inexplicable nine-month delay upon taking office, President Joe Biden nominated Sohn to the FCC last October. Sohn, a longstanding consumer champion and former FCC advisor, isn’t inherently controversial. She’s historically popular in telecom circles across both sides of the aisle, with decades of experience in consumer protection and government.

Sources familiar with the nomination process say Sohn’s candidacy remains very much alive, despite the last congressional action on her nomination coming back in March

The attacks have taken a toll on Sohn politically, leaving the nomination in limbo and the FCC stuck without a voting majority nearly two years into Biden’s term. If Sohn isn’t confirmed by year’s end, her nomination will need renewal under a new Congress, and it remains unclear if the Biden administration has the political backbone to do so.

As it currently stands, Sohn’s confirmation would need the support of all 50 Senate Democrats, thanks to a unified blockade by Republicans. The upcoming midterms, just six weeks away, loom large as to whether this dynamic could be dramatically altered one way or another.

Sohn’s nomination is in sharp contrast to Biden’s lightning fast appointment and subsequent promotion of progressive antitrust reformer Lina Khan at the FTC. Or the Trump administration’s appointment of FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, whose confirmation took less than a month to finalize despite major concerns about his lack of experience.

Consumer groups say Biden’s nine-month delay in nominating Sohn to the FCC gave politically powerful telecom and media giants and their congressional allies ample runway to launch a litany of unfounded attacks, pushed via a parade of partner organizations.

AT&T-funded Americans For Tax Reform, for example, wrote numerous editorials in major publications calling Sohn “radical” and urging the Biden administration to drop her nomination. 

The Fraternal Order of Police, an AT&T partner, used push polls to falsely claim Sohn is anti-police, resulting in a swell of negative and misleading editorials and press reports.

The attacks have been bipartisan. One Country Project, a Democratic PAC led by former Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (herself no stranger to telecom campaign contributions), launched a six-figure marketing campaign over the summer claiming that Sohn would be bad for rural America, allegations consumer groups say are both hollow and baseless.

The AT&T and Comcast funded League of United Latin American Citizens Council (LULAC), wrote numerous editorials falsely claiming that Sohn, a longstanding advocate of media diversity, has a “deeply problematic track record on media diversity issues.” LULAC consistently supports AT&T and Comcast on policy issues ranging from eliminating telecom consumer protections to supporting competition-eroding mega-mergers.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is particularly active in the campaign, running a barrage of stories and editorials across its various outlets falsely claiming Sohn is a “nightmare,” hyperpartisan, an enemy of the police, wants to unfairly censor conservatives, opposes free speech, and generally supports “far left” “controversial opinions.”

None of the attacks are grounded in reality. 

If Sohn’s nomination doesn’t pass, it’s possible it won’t be renewed in the new year, with consumer advocates believing Sohn might get replaced by a more industry-friendly candidate. Even if Sohn is confirmed, two years of potential policy making will have been lost.

Consumer groups and public officials say the attacks reflect the fears of a heavily consolidated telecom and media industry, afraid that a genuine reformer will reverse many of the widely unpopular policy decisions made during the Trump administration, such as the repeal of net neutrality, or rules designed to prevent corporations from growing too powerful.

“The major ISPs, who have spent decades disinvesting in low-income neighborhoods to boost their profits now have to deal with a federal enforcer tasked with penalizing companies for continuing that practice,” Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Ernesto Falcon told the Daily Dot. “Their only option at this point is to shut down the enforcer, which is why so much dark money is being spent on preventing Gigi Sohn from being confirmed to the FCC.”

Telecom policy experts, lawyers, and consumer advocates are also all quick to point out that Sohn isn’t the type to back down from a fight. 

At the same time, neither the administration nor potential FCC colleagues have provided public support for Sohn as the coordinated attacks have accelerated, leaving her effectively on her own to face a relentless character assassination campaign that continues to drag down the nomination’s chance of success.

The White House Press Office defending its handling of Sohn's nomination when asked whether the administration still supported her in the wake of delays and industry attacks.

When provided with examples of consumer group concerns about strategic blunders like the delayed nomination and “dithering” by Democratic strategists, the White House did not respond.

In a statement provided to the Daily Dot, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lambasted the campaign against Sohn and reiterated the importance of having a functioning FCC.

“No single action by this Congress would do more to bridge the digital divide and help consumers than confirming Gigi Sohn and restoring a Democratic majority to the FCC,” Wyden said. “Sohn has a spotless record of working for consumers and standing up to the Big Cable barons. It’s no surprise they’re responsible for the smear campaign that has held up her nomination for months.”

At times Sohn’s nomination process suffered from simple bad luck, such as when a nomination hearing was delayed after Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) suffered a stroke.

At the same time, some consumer groups have been unimpressed with the strategic planning of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who led the nomination process as Chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. They’ve been equally unimpressed with Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) inability to prioritize Sohn or whip the necessary votes.

“Democratic leadership repeatedly said that if Democrats took control of the Senate they would move quickly to get the FCC back to work protecting the public," Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer wrote in a letter to Schumer last February.

"Cantwell, in her role as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has been actively and egregiously preventing Democrats from making good on those promises,” Greer added. “She has repeatedly caved to disingenuous opposition from Republicans and industry lobbyists, leading to inexcusable delays in the confirmation of highly qualified FCC nominee Gigi Sohn.”

A Sohn confirmation vote before the midterms doesn’t seem likely. Policy experts say Democrats have three options: a straight vote during the lame duck period; a bundled vote, in which Sohn’s FCC nomination is paired with a popular conservative choice to replace Noa Phillips at the FTC; or a recess appointment.

Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice believes a straight vote by a lame duck Congress might be the most likely option. Senators facing difficult midterms, such as Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-Nev.) may be more likely to vote for Sohn during a lame duck. 

Whatever happens, Guice, Falcon, and Schumer all argue that with billions in new broadband subsidies on the line, getting Sohn approved before the end of the year needs to be a top priority if Washington truly cares about affordable broadband and consumer protection.

“With important decisions on competition, mapping, media ownership, digital discrimination, and other big issues coming before the Commission, she needs to be confirmed so the FCC can do the hard work it must do to protect consumers and promote the public interest,” Guice said.

“So long as FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel does not have a working majority to carry out the law, the FCC will remain a powerless agency and these companies will keep gaining profits from their discrimination against the poor,” Falcon said. 

That could mean an agency without the voting majority to approve the new broadband maps needed to determine where more than $50 billion in new broadband funding is needed. The fate of American broadband, and whether it will be equitably distributed or determined by the whims of big telecom, is hanging on a vote that may never come.

“The Senate and administration need to brush off these bad-faith attacks,” Wyden said of the campaign against Sohn. “Otherwise Comcast, AT&T and the rest of the telecommunications giants will continue to gouge consumers for subpar service, squash competition, and violate Americans’ privacy.”

Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.

The post Big telecom’s relentless lobbying is pushing Gigi Sohn’s FCC nomination to the brink appeared first on The Daily Dot.

Москва

Архитектурные доминанты округов Москвы

The 10 Intense New Action Movies on Netflix That Left Me on the Edge of My Seat!

Top 10 Love Affair Movies of the 2000s and 2010s

Top 10 Emmanuelle Seigner Movies

Top 5 Websites to Watch FREE Movies - TV Shows (No Sign up!)

Ria.city






Read also

China Tightens Its Grip on Hong Kong

Ogun police nab ‘one chance’ robbers

Dave Calhoun was supposed to turn Boeing around, but after 4 years on the job, he's out. Here's where things went wrong.

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Top 10 Love Affair Movies of the 2000s and 2010s

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

Top 5 Websites to Watch FREE Movies - TV Shows (No Sign up!)



Sports today


Новости тенниса
Екатерина Александрова

Александрова впервые войдет в топ-15 мирового рейтинга



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

«Радио Зенит» – информационный партнер форума «Мы вместе. Спорт»



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

Мечевой бой состоялся в павильоне «Спорт для каждого»


Новости России

Game News

Пробный запуск вампирского градостроя Vampire Legacy: City Builder


Russian.city



Губернаторы России
Сергей Собянин

Сергей Собянин: Новый путепровод улучшит пропускную способность других трасс


Собянин: Школьники из Москвы победили во всероссийской олимпиаде по физике

Заказать недорогой ремонт кухонной мебели в районе в Москве и Московской области

Шапки женские вязаные на Wildberries, 2024 — новый цвет от 392 руб. (модель 466)

СК запросил арест девятого фигуранта дела о теракте в «Крокус Сити Холле»


Муж Нетребко Эйвазов перенес концерт на 40 дней из-за теракта в Crocus City Hall

Концерт лауреатов музыкального конкурса «Волшебные звуки» прошел в Воскресенске

А надо было ласково? Тимати после слов о "ребятах"-террористах ответили по-мужски

В Курской области выступил Национальный оркестр России под управлением Владимира Спивакова


Александрова впервые войдет в топ-15 мирового рейтинга

Виктория Азаренко вышла в полуфинал турнира WTA-1000 в Майами

Рыбакина, наряду со Свёнтек, имеет 70% побед на WTA-1000 против соперниц из топ-10

Азаренко вышла в полуфинал турнира WTA-1000 в Майами



Перенос дат II этапа культурного проекта «Классика: история и современность» в Дмитрове

«Радио Зенит» – информационный партнер форума «Мы вместе. Спорт»

Пассажир рейса Москва — Пермь попал в реанимацию

Шапки женские вязаные на Wildberries, 2024 — новый цвет от 392 руб. (модель 466)


Фильм Джонни Деппа о Модильяни покажут в России

Консультации, Составление Договоров, Присутствие Продюсера при заключении договоров и переговорах. Лекции. Переговоры. Встречи и Обсуждения.

Тариф – Большой Концертный Тур. Организация серии больших концертов.

Всем по местам: в России назвали топ благополучных регионов


Из крупных городов России массово выдворяют мигрантов

Директор Президентской академии в Санкт-Петербурге Андрей Хлутков о цифровой трансформации в сфере госуправления

Фантастика и наука встретятся на ВДНХ: Москва празднует 140-летие со дня рождения писателя Беляева

THG Paris представили коллекцию «О» по дизайну студии Putman



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Диана Арбенина

Певица Диана Арбенина опубликовала редкое фото матери



News Every Day

Top 10 Emmanuelle Seigner Movies




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости