Outgoing FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, dismissed four petitions seeking to punish television networks for their coverage and satire of the president's politics. She said the FCC "should not be weaponized in a way that is fundamentally inconsistent with the First Amendment."
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In one of her final actions before leaving office, the Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission dismissed four petitions seeking to punish television networks for their coverage and satire of the president's politics.
Jessica Rosenworcel tells NPR she wants to distance herself from President-elect Donald Trump's ideological meddling, following his rhetorical attacks on television networks last fall somewhat strengthened.
Three of the complaints came from groups aligned with Trump. Fourth case seeks to block Fox Corp.'s local television unit from renewing sister company's license for its Philadelphia station Fox News promotes lies about 2020 election fraud.
"There's no way we can do anything other than make it very, very clear that the agency and its licensing agencies should not be weaponized in a way that is fundamentally inconsistent with the First Amendment," Rosenworcel said.
“This agency should not be the president’s speech police nor should it be the chief censor of journalism,” she added. “By taking action on these four petitions – from the right and the left – we are making these principles clear.”
A former top Democratic official at the Federal Communications Commission broke with Rosenworcel on social media. Gigi Sohn, who was unsuccessfully nominated by President Biden to serve as commissioner, Calls dismissal of petition against Fox a "failure of leadership"".
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will be elevated to the chairmanship with Trump's inauguration on Monday. Make it clear on social media He plans to use his new position as a forum to fight against the three traditional broadcast networks that he believes are unfair to Trump: ABC, CBS and NBC. (Carr did not respond to a request for comment.)
The FCC does not directly regulate content broadcast by networks. But it licenses local stations — many of which are owned by or affiliated with the networks — to broadcast programming produced by the networks. This has proven to be a pressure point at the moment.
The Center for American Rights, a conservative public interest law firm, is seeking to have the FCC punish ABC Philadelphia for its coverage of a September 2024 debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. processing method. Trump lashes out at ABC host Fact-checking several of his claims. The petition accuses ABC Television of failing to provide unbiased news programming.
The center is also trying to force CBS affiliate WCBS in New York City to release the full transcript of the Oct. 7 interview with Harris. The network used a different excerpt of her answer to a question 60 minutes than it does Facing the country. The law firm's complaint said releasing the transcript would repair the damage to public trust. Trump backed out of his planned interview with CBS, which he claimed CBS had distorted to help Harris.
In the third case, the center claimed NBC unfairly gave Harris an advantage by giving her brief appearances on the show. saturday night live Just before the election. Lawyers for the center pointed to the allegation of a broadcast by NBC's flagship station in New York City, WNBC, as a blatant violation of the FCC's equal time rules during the election and called it election interference.
Allowing equal time is required for the other party to file a complaint. In this case, however, NBC and the Trump campaign separately told NPR that the network had contacted campaign officials before raising any concerns. The next day, NBC aired Trump's video on NASCAR live and on the NFL postgame show. A spokesperson for the event told NPR they were pleased with the arrangement.
Likewise, Cao, a Republican who ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, struck a deal to serve on the Senate floor after Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine appeared on "Saturday Night Live." NBC stations serving the state run ads during key times.
Rosenworcel said these actions fully satisfied legal requirements. The Center for American Rights did not respond to a request for comment.
The remaining complaints to the FCC come from a liberal advocacy group that has been harshly critical of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News. It seeks to block Fox's ability to renew licenses for local Fox stations in Philadelphia. Fox paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems over false accusations that the company rigged President Joe Biden's 2020 election. Evidence emerged in the case that Murdoch knew Biden had won fairly.
Another defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News by second voting tech company Smartmatic Scheduled for trial later this year.
The petition also cites Rupert Murdoch's unsuccessful legal efforts after his death to hand joint control of the company to his son Lachlan through a family trust for his three children .
The petition hinges on the FCC's ability to assess the station owner's character. Complainants include William Kristol, founding editor of Murdoch's magazine weekly standard Preston Padden, a network television veteran who helped Murdoch launch the Fox broadcast network, became his chief lobbyist in Washington and remained a confidant and adviser even after leaving the company .
Fox declined to comment.
Padden and the Media & Democracy Project said in a joint statement that their petition had no First Amendment concerns and that they planned to appeal to the full committee once Carr takes over as chair.
"Our petition to deny (Fox Corp.'s renewal of Philadelphia station license) is based on judicial findings that Fox (News) made repeated false statements that undermined the electoral process and resulted in property damage, injury and death; Rupert Rucker Ran Murdoch 'maliciously' carried out an 'elaborate plan' to deprive Lachlan's siblings of the control they enjoyed under an irrevocable trust; deliberately causing the company to break the law', Paden and Media & Democracy the projects said in a joint statement. "It would be a mistake for the Murdoch family and Fox to avoid any responsibility for the January 6 (2021) Capitol riots and efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election."
Rosenworcel said she doesn't think the FCC is the right forum for this fight or the fight being waged by the American Rights Center.
“The First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy, and we must ensure that our government agencies protect and preserve it,” Rosenworcel said.