Tristani to Head Washington Office of United Church of Christ

Former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani is now head of the Washington office for the United Church of Christ, Inc. Tristani will run the communications advocacy group’s office in Washington.
“This is an important opportunity for me to continue keeping the public’s agenda in front of the Federal Communications Commission, Congress and other key bodies” Tristani said. “Four decades ago, the Office of Communication of the UCC created the whole notion of the public being in control of the airwaves. As we continue into the turbulent digital era, we face new and even more difficult challenges to make sure that the public remains the master of the Information Age, rather than its servant.”
Rev. Robert Chase, executive director of OC, Inc., said Tristani would be the first Washington presence for the group in nearly a decade.
Tristani served as an FCC commissioner from November 1997 to September 2001. Tristani supported the FCC’s LPFM initiative, Equal Employment Opportunity rules, and minority ownership of media properties.
She left the FCC to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in New Mexico in 2002.
The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. 40 years ago petitioned the FCC to revoke the license of Jackson, Miss., TV station WLBT for what it believed to be racist practices. The FCC rejected the petition, but the courts later overturned the decision, “which found sufficient public interest violations in the racist practices of the station to revoke its license,” stated the church.
The case “forever established the principle that the airwaves are public, that the public has standing in FCC proceedings, and that the character and conduct of media companies are determining factors in whether they are fit to serve in the public interest,” stated the church.