GIBBERISH FROM LINDSAY GRAHAM: Calling Him Out For Nonsense in A Tweet

Karl Bode writing in TechDirt takes it all on to put things about content moderation and questionable claims of conservative censorship into context.

Please take your own time to review the comments at the source

Rupert Murdoch Spreads False Claim Biden FCC Nom Wants To 'Censor Conservatives.' NewsMax & OAN Immediately Prove Him Wrong.

Overhype

from the gibberish-and-nonsense dept

Thu, Nov 11th 2021 10:50am — Karl Bode

We'd already noted how telecom and media giants are hard at work trying to scuttle the nomination of consumer advocate Gigi Sohn to the FCC.

Sohn is broadly popular on both sides of the aisle in telecom and media circles, so companies like AT&T and News Corporation are working overtime to come up with talking points politicians can use to oppose her nomination.

This week, that included prodding Lindsey Graham to frame Sohn (who has decades of telecom policy experience) as an unqualified radical extremist looking to censor conservatives:

Gigi Sohn is a complete political ideologue who has disdain for conservatives. She would be a complete nightmare for the country when it comes to regulating the public airwaves.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 9, 2021

Anybody who knows or has worked with Sohn (which is pretty much everyone in telecom policy circles, including myself) knows this is gibberish.

> Graham's rant was timed with the release of this clumsy missive by the Wall Street Journal editorial board that tries to claim Sohn wants to "censor conservatives."

 

Their evidence of this?

She supported holding Sinclair Broadcasting accountable after it lied to regulators to try and get its merger with Tribune Broadcasting approved:

"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."

 

The Journal oddly forgets to mention this important context, but Sinclair didn't just "abandon" that merger. It was blocked by the Trump FCC and then fined for using shell companies, relatives, and other shady side deals to try and pretend the Tribune merger wouldn't violate bipartisan media ownership rules. Sinclair's efforts were so legally dubious, even Trump FCC boss Ajit Pai was forced to oppose the deal. Sohn's big crime? Agreeing with Pai. This somehow gets twisted into Sohn "supporting Conservative censorship"; fairly reflective of the Journal's integrity and the quality of policy discourse in 2021.

One ironic bit that ruins AT&T's and News Corporation's lobbying efforts here: right-wing disinformation mills Newsmax and OAN (who both opposed the threat the Sinclair merger posed to smaller right wing disinformation mills) released statements in support of Sohn's nomination. Their primary justification? That she... supports conservative voices. From Newsmax commentator Bradley Blakeman:

"I know Gigi. I have worked with Gigi. And I have seen her fight for people's right to express themselves, even when she disagrees with them."

AT&T, News Corp., and Comcast very much don't want a consumer advocate at the FCC. They very much want to retain all the favors they nabbed during the Trump era, whether that is the death of net neutrality and broadband privacy rules, or the elimination of many media consolidation rules and neutered FCC consumer protection authority. Their problem is Sohn is both qualified and popular across the aisle, which is forcing them to dig a little too deeply into the nonsense bin to try and justify opposition to the nomination."

Filed Under: fcc, gigi sohn, lindsey graham, regulations, rupert murdoch