We have Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, rising inflation, lackluster jobs growth, an immigration fiasco, and are still awaiting the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial—so you can see how this story fell below the radar. If you're in conservative media, pay attention because Joe Biden's nominee for FCC commissioner has been quite vocal about regulating us to death. The wolf is about to enter the hen house—and even some conservative outlets are supporting this effort. Why? Two words: Fox News.
One America News Network has been vocal about their support for this nominee. Hill sources told Townhall that Newsmax might be onboard, as they see this woman as one who could deliver a death blow to their number one competitor. Allow me to introduce you to Gigi Sohn—and her left-wing bias is widely documented (via WSJ):
Ms. Sohn founded the leftwing group Public Knowledge that has long sought more government control of the internet and media. She was a counselor to Obama FCC Chair Tom Wheeler and was a driving force behind the “net neutrality” regulation that classified broadband providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.
The Wheeler rule banned broadband carriers from charging heavy-bandwidth consuming websites like Netflix and Facebook more to carry their content. The enormous regulatory uncertainty caused broadband investment to decline, though it picked up after the Trump FCC scrapped the rule. Ms. Sohn supports making the Wheeler rule even more burdensome.
“I’m not advocating for just reinstating the old rules,” Ms. Sohn told the media site CNET last year. “We need to push for FCC authority to adopt policy to handle issues like zero-rating and data caps.” Progressives want the government to regulate broadband rates like electricity prices, and Ms. Sohn’s musings suggest she’d be on board.
She’s also hinted at deploying the agency’s regulatory power to censor conservative media and revive a version of its mooted fairness doctrine. “For all my concerns about #Facebook, I believe that Fox News has had the most negative impact on our democracy,” she tweeted in October 2020. “It’s state-sponsored propaganda, with few if any opposing viewpoints.”
Ms. Sohn seems to believe that the state is endorsing conservative speech by allowing cable companies to carry it. She also has suggested using the FCC’s power over broadcast licenses to censor conservative outlets. After Tribune Broadcasting abandoned its merger with the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2018, she declared “Today is a good day for every American who believes that diversity of voices in the media is better for our democracy” and urged the FCC to “look at whether Sinclair is qualified to be a broadcast licensee at all.”
She could also use the agency’s power to block mergers that expand conservative media’s reach. Left-wing activists have petitioned the FCC to block the sale of a Spanish-language radio station in Miami to the conservative-leaning América CV Network, which Democratic Congress Members suggested in a letter to the agency wasn’t operating in the “public interest” and might have propagated election misinformation.
The FCC is currently split 2-2, and if Ms. Sohn is confirmed, Democrats will move quickly on the progressive agenda.
Yet, you can see the end game here, whereas OANN and others can't. She won't just stop with Fox News if given the chance. Once she's done gutting them—she'll come after them. This is a warning shot to all conservative outlets. This woman is about to lead a raid the likes of which most cannot recover. It's the state crushing opinion it doesn't like. It's the Democrat-media complex doing wet work—and it will be brutally applied.
This is one nomination that has to be torpedoed.