Exiting FCC Chair Warns That Agency “Should Not Be The President’s Speech Police” As Broadcast News Complaints Are Dismissed

The departing chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, warned of efforts to tie the broadcast station license renewals to news content, as the agency dismissed a series of complaints brought from the left and the right.

She did not name incoming President Donald Trump, who has threatened networks over their news and other content, but she said in a statement that she wanted to “draw a bright line at a moment when clarity about government interference with the free press is needed more than ever. 

“The action we take makes clear two things.  First, the FCC should not be the President’s speech police.  Second, the FCC should not be journalism’s censor-in-chief,” she said.

The dismissed complaints included three filed by the conservative Center for American Rights. A complaint against ABC’s Philadelphia affiliate, WPVI-TV, alleged bias in ABC’s hosting of the September presidential debate; a complaint against WCBS-TV in New York claimed “news distortion” in the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris; and a complaint WNBC-TV in New York alleged violations of the equal time rule when Saturday Night Live featured Harris in a cameo the weekend before the presidential election.

Another complaint, filed by the Media and Democracy Project, challenged the license of Fox-owned WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, alleging that the revelations from the Dominion Voting System case showed that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch lacked the “character” to hold a broadcast license.

“The facts and legal circumstances in each of these cases are different,” Rosenworcel said.  “But what they share is that they seek to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment.  To do so would set a dangerous precedent.”

Trump has long railed against networks and other media companies, with not-too-veiled threats over broadcast licenses and antitrust action. Earlier this week, he warned that Comcast should “pay a big price,” as he was irate over something said by NBC’s late night host Seth Meyers.

Trump’s pick for the FCC, Brendan Carr, has given some credence to Trump gripe’s against over the way that 60 Minutes edited the Harris interview. Carr said that it even would arise during the agency’s review of the Paramount-Skydance transaction, while those companies have said that such a complaint is not specific to the transaction and that CBS’ editorial discretion was protected by the First Amendment.

During his first term, Trump’s choice to lead the FCC, Ajit Pai, was clear that the agency “does not have the authority to revoke the license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.” Pai was responding to a Trump suggestion that NBC should lose its license over a news segment. The FCC does not license networks, but stations.

CNN first reported on Rosenworcel’s comments and the FCC’s action.

More to come.