Pallone, Doyle Want FCC to Reassure Broadcasters; Carr Raps Free Press Petition
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., demanded Thursday the FCC reassure broadcasters the agency won’t revoke licenses for airing legally protected speech amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized Free…
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Press’ petition for an investigation into whether broadcasters are airing false and misleading information about COVID-19 and require broadcasters “prominently disclose” when the information they air is “false or scientifically suspect,” including in Trump administration news briefings (see 2003260065). Pallone and Doyle wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The lawmakers responded to letters President Donald Trump’s campaign sent last week to some broadcasters telling them their licenses could be “in jeopardy” if they continued to air ads from the anti-Trump Priorities USA Action Fund political action committee that say Trump called the epidemic a “hoax.” The federal government “must reaffirm -- not undermine -- America’s commitment to a free press” because “autocratic governments around the world are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to suppress press freedoms,” Pallone and Doyle told Pai. “By remaining silent, the FCC sends a disturbing signal.” The FCC “has a duty to provide clear guidance to broadcasters and the public that threats by politicians about protected speech will not influence the agency or broadcaster licenses,” they said. “To stay silent could undermine the First Amendment and the Communications Act.” The agency didn’t comment. FP’s petition “is a sweeping and dangerous attempt by the left to weaponize the FCC against conservative broadcasters and politicians,” Carr tweeted. “It is a clear signal of the agenda the left will pursue if they regain control of the FCC,” including “censoring speech that does not fit their orthodoxy.” Carr stands “with the First Amendment and strongly oppose[s] this.” He noted FP was among groups that pressed for “greater government control of the Internet” via 2015 net neutrality rules. FP stands by its petition because it believes "it's quite possible that certain broadcasts have amounted to ‘hoaxes’ as defined by the FCC’s own regulations," co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez said in a statement. "We will not stand down in the face of flip comments from a misguided FCC commissioner and his band of seven-cent trolls. We expect an official response from the agency mandated by Congress to protect the public interest on our nation’s airwaves, not a right-wing firing squad lobbing insults over Twitter."