Washington, D.C. — Recently, President Joe Biden nominated Gigi Sohn for Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Patrice Onwuka, senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Voice, released the following statement:
“The FCC wields important regulatory authority and oversight of communication entities in our nation. That includes protecting and upholding their free speech rights. Therefore, commissioners should not just be qualified and judicious, but also impartial, fair, and free from conflicts of interest. Gigi Sohn fails on these accounts. Concerningly, she may use the FCC’s regulatory authority to penalize perceived political adversaries in media.
“Sohn has demonstrated that she leans toward partisan regulation and censorship. In public statements and social media posts, she has called for Congress to scrutinize two media companies that present viewpoints she opposes, Fox News and Sinclair. She has claimed Fox “has had the most negative impact on our democracy” and is a source of ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation.’ She would use federal power to penalize them simply because she opposes their coverage and analysis.
“Sohn has also advocated for the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses from Sinclair due in part to the company’s editorial decisions. It would be naive to believe that Sohn would suddenly abandon her vendetta against these media companies once she has direct oversight and authority over them.
“In addition, Sohn also has an extremely troubling conflict of interest related to her public service. In her role as a board member of Locast, she presided over a settlement agreement between Locast and broadcasters — entities that she will regulate if confirmed by the Senate — that drastically reduced her organization’s financial liability from $32 million to $700,000. Reportedly, Sohn is attempting to confidentially negotiate a backroom deal with Senate Commerce Committee Democrats to attempt to mitigate her conflicts of interest.
“There are other candidates who would not require significant recusals in order to vacate rulings. We urge President Biden to return to the drawing board and select a different candidate for this role.”
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