Advocacy group MediaJustice is calling for the “urgent” confirmation of Gigi Sohn to the fifth seat on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, with only two weeks before Congress adjourns for its August recess.
The group cited her advocacy for communications equity, as well as for net neutrality rules.
Unless Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) schedules a vote to discharge Sohn's nomination from the Senate Commerce Committee, which failed to favorably report her out of the panel, then holds a vote on the nomination itself before that August recess, the chances she will get confirmed and installed to provide for a full commission and are slim at best. MediaJustice conceded those prospects are waning, which is why they say it is urgent to confirm within the next two weeks.
Also: Gigi Sohn’s FCC Prospects Fading Absent Senate Action ASAP
Sohn was nominated by President Joe Biden back in October 2021 to the pivotal fifth seat on the FCC, one that would give it the Democratic majority it needs to restore network-neutrality rules or pursue other policy goals unlikely to get Republican buy-in. But her nomination has stalled amid criticism from Republicans and others over issues including her support for the FCC’s Obama-era network neutrality rules, her criticism of Fox News Channel and her involvement with the broadcast-TV streaming platform Locast, which was shuttered after the Big Four broadcasters sued it for copyright infringement.
And there is scant time for Biden to nominate a substitute and get that person confirmed before Congress gets in re-election mode for the midterms.
A Democrat — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — is said to be the holdout vote that could put Sohn into the FCC vacancy, giving Democrats a further reason to criticize Manchin after he declined to support the president's climate and energy legislation, citing inflation.
“For over a year, Congressional leadership has left us without a functioning Federal Communications Commission capable of addressing the harms of digital discrimination and digital redlining,” MediaJustice executive director Steven Renderos said.
MediaJustice comprises more than 100 organizations whose goal is to advance communications access for various underrepresented groups — low-income, minorities, the incarcerated. It said Sohn has worked toward such advancement in her past life as a top aide Tom Wheeler, the FCC‘s chair during President Barack Obama’s second term. The group is also a big fan of net-neutrality rules that Sohn stumped for while at the FCC and when she headed Public Knowledge.
Also: Sohn Fans Call Out Dithering Dems
“Gigi Sohn has dedicated her career to defending the public interest, bringing the voice of everyday people into what were once closed-door meetings regarding communications and technology policy,“ Renderos said. ”Congress must take action and confirm Sohn as FCC Commissioner now.”
At a Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council Zoom event Wednesday, co-moderator and former FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein conceded that while time for a Sohn confirmation was growing short, there was also a lame-duck session in Congress after the midterms. He noted that he was twice confirmed during a lame duck session, including after one news report that his nomination was “toast.” ■
