MEDIA WATCH - OBAMA APPOINTS JULIUS GENACHOWSKI AS FCC CHAIRMAN

By Miriam Raftery

January 14, 2009 (Washington D.C) — President-elect Barack Obama plans to
appoint Julius Genachowski, a key technology advisor and top fundraiser for
his campaign, to be the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission,
Associated Press has reported.

Genachowski served three years in the FCC during the Clinton administration,
including chief counsel to the FCC chairman. He has also held executive positions
at Barry Diller's Internet conglomerate IAC/InterActive Corp, served as a law
clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justices David Souter and William Brennan, and
worked as a House staffer to Senator Charles Schumer. His long friendship with
Obama began during their tenure at Harvard University. Genachowski currently
works as a Washington-based venture capitalist and is co-founder of Rock Creek
Ventures and LaunchBox Digital, an investment firm.

The appointment has drawn praise from supporters of media reform.

"The reported selection of Julius Genachowski as the next chairman of
the FCC represents the dawning of a new day for an agency that for the past
eight years has wrongly imposed policies that favor media consolidation and
corporate favoritism over policies that would broaden media diversity," said
Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), founder and chairman of the congressional
Future of American Media Caucus. "I am confident that Mr. Genachowski will
breathe new life into the FCC and help reverse the ill effects of media consolidation
that the Bush administration has forced upon the American people."

Unprecedented media consolidation in recent years has resulted in six media
conglomerates now controlling the vast majority of news that Americans access
via TV, radio and newspapers. Hinchey predicted that a Genachowski-led FCC
will return to implementing policies "that ensure the American people have
access to a broad array of ideas and content. The American people will be much
better served by an FCC that will expand the diversity of media ownership and
expand what has increasingly become a narrowed range of ideas and content broadcast
over the publicly-owned airwaves." A well-informed public that can hold its government
accountable is critical to our nation's ability to thrive as a democracy. I'm
confident that President-elect Obama's choice for the next FCC commissioner
will help our country achieve that goal."

Locally, media consolidation and lack of media diversity has become an issue
in recent weeks, most recently with AM 1700's decision to cancel both Stacey
Taylor and Mark Larson's local talk shows in favor of national programming--a
trend that is occurring across the country. Media consolidation and elimination
of local programming has not only lessened diversity on the airways and sharply
reduced local programming, but in some areas has even impeded dissemination
of emergency information with no local talk show host on the air when a catastrophic
event occurred.

Ben Scott, policy director at the public interest group Free Press, had this
to say. "It will be a very forward-looking, progressive tech policy agenda" that
reflects "the first YouTube President" and builds on the Obama camp's
pioneering use of technology to organize online support, Scott observed.

Besides media consolidation, another key issue facing the FCC will be the
scheduled February 17th transition from analog to digital television broadcasting,
which could black out millions of Americans who rely on analog TV sets. The
Obama team is calling on Congress to postpone the transition. Another priority
for Genachowski will likely be increasing consumers' access to affordable high-speed
Internet connections, particularly in poor and rural areas.

The new FCC chair nominee is also viewed as a strong supporter of "network
neutrality" to prohibit broadband operators from favoring or discriminating
against Internet traffic on their networks. Phone and cable industries have
argued that they need flexibility to manage network traffic, against Internet
companies, while others such as Google Inc.have argued that broadband operators
could become gatekeepers barring access to the Internet for some users. Genachowski
will also likely support increasing competition in the broadband market as
well as restricting further media consolidation and possibly rolling back existing
media monopolies.