On Wednesday, all eyes will be on Washington, D.C., for radio industry leaders that have collectively voiced their opposition to any legislation that would impose new royalty fees on music their stations play.
At the same time, radio’s C-Suites — and those for television broadcasting companies — will have their eyes and ears attune to a just-confirmed House Judiciary Committee hearing that will consider the nomination of a highly controversial selection of the Biden Administration to serve as a FCC Commissioner.
February 2 is indeed shaping up to be a pivotal day for the radio broadcasting industry.
The biggest event of the day: A Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee executive session scheduled for 10am Eastern that will consider the nomination of 13 individuals, in addition to various U.S. Coast Guard promotions.
No. 13 on the list — Gigi Sohn. As RBR+TVBR and numerous news organizations have reported, Sohn isn’t exactly warming over the hearts of Senate Republicans. At the same time, the NAB has expressed its concern over Sohn for her role with the now-shuttered virtual over-the-air television service Locast, which evaded retransmission consent agreement by purporting to be a non-profit operation.
This concern, along with others regarding her belief that “Net Neutrality” be restored, will likely be at the forefront of inquisitive GOP Senators who sit on the Committee, including Texas’ Ted Cruz.
While the agenda items are subject to change, the nomination of Sohn is a mild surprise. While the Biden Administration recommitted to Sohn by standing by her nomination, a vote on Sohn was not expected as recently as two weeks ago. That’s the day when swift Senate confirmation of Alan Davidson to the role of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the NTIA came.
Listed by the Senate Cloakroom as “Executive Calendar #612,” Davidson’s approval was uneventful, despite the early press reports of dissent among Republicans of his choice by the White House, also because of his “Net Neutrality” views.
Perhaps that’s because Davidson wasn’t actively making posts on Twitter deriding a cable television news organization. That’s what Sohn did, with GOP Senators in her first nomination hearing expressing their extreme displeasure for her advocacy efforts that include assailing FOX News as a propaganda agent of the government. The comments came from Sohn during the Trump presidency.
While the radio and TV industry has been largely mum on Sohn, Byron Allen, owner of Entertainment Studios and Allen Media Group, has come out in support of her confirmation to the FCC.
How Sohn would settle in at the FCC remains a major talking point Inside the Beltway and among media industry executives across the U.S. A June 2015 Media Institute event featuring Sohn perhaps offers a glimpse of what her first days as a FCC Commissioner would be like. At the Washington, D.C., gathering, Sohn commented on what it’s like to go from frequent FCC critic, at advocacy group Public Knowledge, to a role as a counselor to then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.
“As an outsider, you can be the advocate for the ideal outcome and you can stick to that message without wavering,” she said seven years ago. “But when you are governing, you have to balance many different equities to find what is ultimately in the public’s best interest. For the FCC, the equities to be balanced include, among others, free speech, economic growth, investment, innovation, competition, and diversity of viewpoints and ownership. And you must, by law, consider the opinions of a wide variety of individual, non-profit and industry stakeholders.”
Sohn said that she’s also learned “that there is a marked increase in the intensity of interest in, and dissection of, what you say and do when you are a public servant.”
To that end, she remarked, “In my prior life I could get away with the occasional provocative quote, blog or tweet. In fact, it was pretty much expected and sometimes even welcomed. Now I parse my words and make sure that my e-mails are boring. My Facebook feed now has only pictures of family and kittens. In my prior life, there was never a camera I didn’t want to be in front of or a comment I wanted off-the-record. Now ‘off the record’ is the first thing I say to a reporter. And I write every email, social media post or blog post as if it could one day appear on the front page of The New York Times.”
By October 2020, Sohn had retreated from that May 2015 statement that she would parse her words. On Twitter, she was blasting the Trump administration while taking also taking aim at the “Trump FCC.” Then came an October 28, 2020 Tweet that as of today has yet to be deleted by Sohn:
For all my concerns about #Facebook, I believe that Fox News has had the most negative impact on our democracy. It’s state-sponsored propaganda, with few if any opposing viewpoints. Where’s the hearing about that? https://t.co/Zwx6KFzrff
— Gigi Sohn (@gigibsohn) October 28, 2020
‘AMFA’ HEARING SET
While Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) convenes the Senate hearing that could, or could not, include Sohn’s nomination, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), will consider the “American Music Fairness Act” — legislation being heavily pushed by musicFIRST and its head, Joe Crowley, a former colleague of Nadler who was defeated in his primary reelection bid by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Details are scant on what the virtual hearing will entail. However, the House Judiciary Committee notes that it is a “Zoom video webinar” that will discuss how the proposed legislation protects artists.
As of today, Senate and House resolutions preventing any sort of legislation from passing in Congress have substantial support. As such, the “Local Radio Freedom Act,” while non-binding, would thwart any realistic chance of the “AMFA” from becoming law.
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