Public Interest Groups United on Policy Positions Next FCC Chairman Must Embrace
Public interest groups put differences aside and collaborated on a joint letter on the attributes that they said a new FCC chairman and new member of the FCC should have. The letter reminds President Barack Obama that as a senator and as a presidential candidate in 2008, he raised concerns about media consolidation. Last week, Public Knowledge in particular declined to sign on to a letter raising questions about Tom Wheeler, who’s considered the leading contender to be the next chairman (CD March 28 p1), without mentioning him by name. Some public interest groups officials have even signaled to the White House support for Wheeler, the former president of CTIA and NCTA (CD March 26 p1). Last week’s letter had 15 signatories while more than 40 signed the latest letter (http://bit.ly/16zqc6Q).
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"We, the undersigned organizations, strongly urge you to nominate a new FCC Chair and Commissioner who will be deeply committed to protecting the public interest by increasing competition, improving political transparency, promoting media diversity and accessibility, and ensuring an open Internet,” the letter said. “Our nation’s media and communications policies have a pervasive effect on life in 21st century America. ... Decisions at the FCC impact everything from what viewers see on their televisions to the content they can access on the Internet and the rates they pay. These will be crucial appointments for your second term."
Industry consolidation must be a strong concern of the reconfigured FCC, the letter said. “The FCC must review all telecommunications and media mergers critically. It must adhere to specific public interest guidelines in these reviews to ensure that the people’s airwaves actually serve the people. It must recommit to enforcing rules already on the books, such as the media ownership rules, as well as political advertising transparency mandates that Congress enacted under Section 317 of the Telecommunications Act to ensure that viewers know who is paying to persuade them on issues of national importance.” Net neutrality and access to broadband also remain major concerns, the letter said: “Your new FCC appointees will need to deal with industry’s unfounded deregulatory pleas, and its calls to wipe away decades of hard-fought universal service requirements and consumer protections."
"As Free Press has made clear since Chairman Genachowski’s announcement, we're focused on the unfinished business that awaits the agency no matter who gets the nod,” said Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, which signed the letter. “The White House has to make the case that any nominee, no matter who he or she is, will put the public interest first."
"Under the Genachowski FCC, the Obama administration failed to deliver on its promises -- often foregoing key decisions, ignoring overwhelming evidence of problems whose solutions were not politically expedient, and creating a legal mire out of the few decisions it finally did make,” aid Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. Meinrath was the main proponent of last week’s letter. “As today’s letter from a massive coalition of public interest groups demonstrates, this sector is united in our demand that the next FCC chairman address myriad problems that have been plaguing our country. Given the myriad failures during its first term, the Obama administration should expect a far more active watchdog community to hold it accountable for enacting the change that President Obama ran on."
"With so much at stake - a free and open Internet, creeping media monopolization and a political system awash in unaccountable, anonymous money -- it’s crucial that President Obama appoint public interest champions who are committed to upholding the values he campaigned on,” said former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. Copps helped coordinate the letter, which was on Common Cause letterhead.