The FCC under Republican Chairman Brendan Carr has received much criticism since he acted to reinstate complaints against ABC, NBC and CBS that were dismissed under delegated authority by acting Bureau Chiefs in the waning days of the Rosenworcel Commission. Now, five former Commissioners — including the FCC Chairman prior to Jessica Rosenworcel — are asking Carr to end its probe of CBS.
Whether or not past FCC Chairmen Alfred Sikes (R) and Tom Wheeler (D) and ex-FCC Commissioners Rachelle Chong (R), Ervin S. Duggan (D), and Gloria Tristani (D) hold any sway today is doubtful.
Chairman Carr has made it clear that the Commission will fully vet claims made by Center for American Rights (CAR), a conservative organization, that CBS aired interviews with former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Election Day 2024 that saw her answer a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu differently when it aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation.”
CAR filed the news distortion complaint against CBS News & Stations’ WCBS-2 in New York, singling out this owned property in order to get the FCC to judge what the CBS Television Network aired across its own stations and on its affiliates.
In a 21-page filing as part of MB Docket 25-73, the five former FCC vote-makers made it very clear where they stand regarding the CBS probe — and how the Trump Administration has potentially influenced Carr and Republican colleague Nate Simington in pushing ahead.
“Across Republican and Democratic administrations, the Commission historically has been steadfast in its commitment to acting as an independent agency, respecting the free speech rights of broadcasters, and disclaiming any role in censoring the news media,” the quintet says in the ex parte filing. “This news distortion proceeding marks a significant departure from the Commission’s historical practice, both procedurally and substantively.”
They continue, “The Commission has long stressed the importance of construing the ‘news distortion’ policy narrowly to protect free speech. It has found sanctionable news distortion extraordinarily rarely, only in cases of wholesale fabrication of news stories and other egregious misconduct. The Commission has expressly declined to enforce the policy in cases that merely take issue with a broadcaster’s editorial judgment, recognizing the acute danger of allowing a government agency to second-guess journalistic decisions. The Commission initially applied that precedent here and properly dismissed this news distortion complaint.”
But, they add, the Carr Commission “took the highly unusual steps of reopening the proceeding” once President Trump returned to the White House for a second non-consecutive term, “acting sua sponte to secure the precise relief requested by the complaint, and only then opening the docket for public comment—without any real explanation for reconsidering the prior decision.”
The Commission, in their view, therefore seems to be using the CBS probe as a way to warn broadcasters that it may apply the news distortion policy far more aggressively than over the past several decades, “but the lack of transparency leaves affected broadcasters and the public guessing as to the Commission’s current view of the policy’s scope.”
As former Commissioners, the five are deeply concerned about these departures from the
Commission’s historical practice, particularly when they are viewed in context. “This
Administration has made no secret of its desire to revoke the licenses of broadcasters that cover it in ways the president considers unfavorable,” they write. “And the Administration has also decreed that the Commission and other historically independent agencies will now operate directly under the president’s “supervision and control.” By reopening this complaint, the Commission is signaling to broadcasters that it will indeed act at the behest of the White House by closely scrutinizing the content of news coverage and threatening the regulatory licenses of broadcasters whose news outlets produce coverage that does not pass muster in the president’s view.”
Thus, the five recommend the Commission reverse course, “closing this proceeding without further action and reaffirming its long-held commitment to acting as an independent agency rather than the White House’s personal censor.”
The ex parte filing comes following the submission earlier this month of a 22-page filing from NAB Chief Legal Officer and Legal and Regulatory Affairs EVP Rick Kaplan and his team, which requests that the Commission dismiss “the invalid” complaint against CBS.
