What's So Funny About the FCC's Failures?

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski may pride himself on playing the "compromiser in chief," but his tenure has been a series of major disappointments for those expecting real change.

His strategy at the FCC has been to fold, fold, fold anytime industry comes calling. The one time he went all-in against a major player was when the agency blocked the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. But he was holding aces then in the form of the antitrust lawsuit the Justice Department had already filed against AT&T. When Politico asked Genachowski to name his crowning achievement, the chairman simply said "broadband" -- as if we'd all be communicating through tin cans and string without his leadership. Yet his National Broadband Plan was the first sign we were dealing with a serial capitulator. The document failed to confront the biggest obstacle to providing world-class broadband in America: the lack of meaningful competition. Worst of all, Genachowski missed the opportunity to reverse failed Bush administration policies and "reclassify" broadband under the Telecommunications Act. Doing so would have ensured the FCC's authority to protect consumers from corporate malfeasance. But once again, Genachowski bowed to industry pressure-- and did nothing.

Is Genachowski the worst FCC chairman ever? Well, there was once a guy who saw no difference between televisions and toasters, so the bar is pretty low. But it's hard to think of someone else who squandered as many opportunities at a more critical moment for the future of the media, the Internet and the agency itself.