Cheryl Leanza

One year ago, President Trump declared the Digital Equity Act “unconstitutional” and “racist and illegal” in a post on Truth Social. The next day, the Department of Commerce sent cancellation letters to every grantee. Trump’s claim is false. The Digital Equity Act is a bipartisan law passed as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance is suing to stop the illegal cancellation.

We are reaping the fruit of the industry’s cowardice. For more than a year, most major media companies have stood by or aggressively acquiesced as President Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr pressured them through lawsuits and baseless investigations. Radio coverage of ICE raids? Investigated. A comedian’s joke? Investigated. Fair hiring for people of color? Reframed as racist. CBS installed a monitor. ABC paid out a settlement to the President. Nexstar and Sinclair pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air on their local stations.

On September 15, 2025, United Church of Christ Media Justice helped organize a coalition letter of faith and public interest groups urging the Federal Communications Commission to overturn its unjust and unlawful suspension of fair prison phone and video rates. This letter supports a legal filing at the FCC, in which UCC Media Justice is also deeply engaged. Earlier in 2024, families finally began to see relief from decades of predatory prison phone bills.

Not only did Congress unanimously pass the Martha Wright Reed Act, but the Federal Communications Commission unanimously adopted the decision. And the Federal Communications Commission’s newly appointed General Counsel vigorously and persuasively defended the decision in April 2025.

In recent days, major new proposals from the Trump Administration and the majority in Congress are damaging further mechanisms that would have provided low-cost broadband to households in need. The Department of Commerce issued radically revised guidance for states implementing the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, and the Senate Commerce Committee released its part of the highly problematic reconciliation budget bill.

If Congress doesn’t act to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), millions of households that currently have broadband internet access could lose it before the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Students could fall into the “homework gap," meaning they won't be able to complete schoolwork at home and keep up with their classmates.

Three media justice advocates stressed the importance of retelling stories—and telling them accurately—at the 37^th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Awards Breakfast today in Washington, DC, sponsored by the United Church of Christ’s media justice ministry, the Office of Communication, Inc. Three media justice advocates stressed the importance of retelling stories—and telling them accurately—at the 37^th Annual Everett C.

The support structures that assist low-income families cannot work unless those in need have functional means of communication. Doctors monitoring children with fragile health, employers who can offer an extra shift to a struggling worker, nutrition support programs like SNAP which must confirm income eligibility — all these must be able to communicate with a low-income person, often within limited timeframes. Our collective and individual economic well-being is dependent on communications tools.

Two longtime advocates instrumental in shaping the media justice field will be honored October 11, 2018 at the 36th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture in Washington DC.

[Commentary] If the public had any doubt as to whether Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was going to follow his own regulatory philosophy consistently during his term, one of the votes April 20 confirms that he chooses to follow his own principles only when it suits the powerful companies and political interests that back him. Applying his own ideas against the “UHF discount” draft order reveals much:
One of Chairman Pai’s abiding goals is to root out “obsolete rules,”
According to his regulatory philosophy “regulators should be skeptical of pleas to … afford special treatment,”
“as a creature of Congress, the FCC must respect the law as set forth by the legislature,”
“throughout my time at the Commission, I have worked on ways for the FCC to foster diversity in the broadcast industry,” and
“consumers benefit most from competition.”

Chairman Pai’s and Commissioner O’Rielly’s vote tomorrow morning will violate all five of these principles simultaneously: they are starting on a path of massive media consolidation by reinstating a technically obsolete rule justified by promising to change a rule Congress has specifically prohibited the FCC from changing and making it more difficult for smaller stations owned by women and people of color.

[Cheryl Leanza is the policy adviser for the United Church of Christ’s media justice ministry, OC Inc.]