FCC, Meet "Change"

[Commentary] Perhaps the first image that pops into your mind when recalling President Bush's Federal Communications Commission is Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during 2004's Super Bowl half-time show. But many of the commission's other policy positions—from media consolidation, net neutrality, and spectrum auctions—were far more consequential for the public good, and in many cases decidedly more damaging to free and democratic debate. What will President Obama's FCC be like? President Obama is expected to tap Julius Genachowski as head of the FCC. One of Genachowski's biggest tasks will be simply to provide the kind of competent leadership that inspires respect in the integrity of the commissions decisions themselves. Former-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was surely lacking in this respect. Restoring competent leadership, addressing media consolidation, making sure public airwaves can still be used for the public good, and easing obscenity restrictions that infringe upon freedom of speech are all tall tasks. Yet they represent only the tip of what undoubtedly is a decidedly dirty iceberg that lies beneath. Mr. Genachowski and his colleagues—particularly the estimable Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein—will have their work cut out for them in restoring this crucial agency to the side of the citizens and consumers it was originally intended to serve.