Obama Reportedly Set to Name Harvard Buddy as FCC Chairman
President-elect Barack Obama is reportedly set to nominate an old Harvard friend, Julius Genachowski, to become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
The New York Times reported on the expected nomination on the Caucus blog. Genachowski, a technology executive, served on the Harvard Law Review with Obama and was one of his basketball buddies, the story says.
He also advised Obama on telecom policies and helped in his campaign’s successful online strategy, according to the Times. Genachowski clerked for Justice David H. Souter and was chief counsel to former FCC chairman Reed Hundt in the 1990s.
Genachowski will face issues that include the transition to digital TV and pressure for expanded Internet access and Internet neutrality rules, Bloomberg News reports. While working for Hundt, Genachowski wrote rules requiring broadcasters to show three hours of children’s programs each week, the story says. He is a founding board member of Common Sense Media, which issued a report in December concluding childhood exposure to TV, digital games and other media is linked to increases in sexual behavior, obesity and tobacco use.
