• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • United Church of Christ News
  • UCC Media Justice urges Senators to break FCC deadlock by confirming Sohn
GigiSohn@ParkerLecture2018

UCC Media Justice urges Senators to break FCC deadlock by confirming Sohn

by Sara Fitzgerald | published on Oct 18, 2022

The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry joined a coalition of nearly 250 organizations Oct. 14 in urging the U.S. Senate to break a deadlock on the Federal Communications Commission and confirm President Biden’s nomination of Gigi Sohn.

The public interest attorney’s appointment has languished in Congress for nearly a year. 

Gigi Sohn speaks at the annual Parker Lecture and Awards ceremony in 2018.

The FCC has operated without a full complement of commissioners for all of Biden’s first term, the longest delay in recent memory for a first-term president. Mindful that Democrats could lose their Senate majority in the midterm elections, the coalition renewed its call for Sohn’s confirmation.

In 2018, UCC Media Justice recognized Sohn with its annual Everett C. Parker Award for more than 30 years of work in support of the public interest in media policy, from her work on broadcasting accountability to access to affordable telecommunications services and net neutrality. The award honors the life of the Rev. Everett C. Parker, the founder of the UCC’s Office of Communication Inc., now UCC Media Justice.

‘Full commission’ urged

Cheryl Leanza, Media Justice’s public policy adviser, helped to organize signers to the current letter calling on Senate leaders to schedule a vote on Sohn.

The coalition said the FCC “needs a full commission as it begins to deliberate on upcoming critical decisions that will have profound impacts on the economy and the American people.”

In accepting the Parker Award in 2018, Sohn said, “In these difficult times, when much of what we have worked for so hard and for so long is being dismantled, we should all strive to be like Everett. His was an uphill battle too, also during a dark time in our country’s history. Nevertheless, he persisted as we will, too.”

Sohn’s opponents

Sohn co-founded Public Knowledge, a telecommunications advocacy group which she left to serve in a high-ranking post at the FCC during the Obama administration. A recent Washington Post story provided details of industry lobbying against Sohn’s nomination. Sohn, who would become the FCC’s first openly gay commissioner, has also been subjected to personal attacks because of her sexual orientation.

The coalition’s letter said, “With the FCC having been tasked by Congress to ensure all Americans gain access to open, affordable, 21st-century-ready broadband service under the bipartisan infrastructure law, the agency will benefit from Ms. Sohn’s involvement as it works to expand work and business opportunities to Americans in unserved and underserved areas.”

It calls on the Senate to give due consideration to “this highly qualified individual, who has dedicated her career to ensuring consumers have access to communications services available to everybody, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, geography, or political viewpoint. Her life’s work is the embodiment of the FCC’s mission, and we simply cannot have a less-than-fully functioning FCC to persist any longer.”


Sara Fitzgerald, a member of Rock Spring Congregational UCC in Arlington, Va., is on the Board of Directors of the OC Inc. and is a regular newsroom volunteer at the UCC’s biennial General Synod.


Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

Categories: United Church of Christ News

Get the UCC in your inbox!

Sign up for the weekly UCC News Digest

Privacy Policy
 
 

Related News

United Church of Christ News

Dorhauer’s ‘100 Days of Gratitude’ to celebrate his tenure as GMP

General Minister and President-elect John Dorhauer celebrates his new call with his wife Mimi...

Read More
United Church of Christ News

New ONA director, Global Ministries exec among recent hires

The new year has seen many new staff settling in and joining the United Church of Christ’s...

Read More
United Church of Christ News

Synod is asked to affirm commitment to transgender, nonbinary dignity amid legislative attacks

The 2023 General Synod of the United Church of Christ will consider 16 resolutions and several...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC CrestUCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative