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With less than a week before Barack Obama is inaugurated as the nation’s 44th President, news reports have surfaced regarding his plans to nominate Julius Genachowski as the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission. If confirmed to the position, Genachowski would head the FCC during an administration that outlined numerous media and telecommunications policy positions in the course of the presidential campaign. Genachowski, who served as the top technological adviser to Obama’s internet-savvy bid for the presidency, will face a number of critical issues including net neutrality, broadband accessibility, and an increasingly consolidated media landscape in fiscal decline. In the past, Obama has stated his support for net neutrality and diversifying media ownership as well as calling for the creation of so-called “Public Media 2.0.” In a statement released by the group Free Press, media reform activists are welcoming news reports about the next potential chair of the FCC saying the move would shift the commission’s compass towards the public interest. Genachowski would be replace current out-going Republican chair, Kevin J. Martin.

GUEST: Craig Aaron, Communications Director of Free Press. For more information, visit www.freepress.net.