FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has signaled that the agency will not scrap its controversial news distortion policy, despite criticism from a bipartisan group of former FCC chairs and commissioners. The policy, which was introduced in the 1960s, aims to eliminate bias in news reporting but has been criticized for being overly vague and chilling free speech.
Carr's decision comes after four former FCC leaders - Mark Fowler, Dennis Patrick, Alfred Sikes, and Tom Wheeler - filed a petition asking the agency to repeal the policy. The group argued that the policy is no longer justifiable under today's First Amendment doctrine and that it can be exploited for partisan purposes.
In response to the petition, Carr posted on X, writing "How about no" and stating that the FCC will continue to hold broadcasters accountable to their public interest obligations. He also accused his critics of censoring conservatives and claimed that they are trying to undermine the agency's efforts to promote fairness in news reporting.
The news distortion policy has rarely been enforced since its introduction, with only one finding made after 1982. However, Carr has used the policy as a tool to threaten broadcasters who he alleges are biased against Republicans. In a recent incident, he threatened to revoke licenses from ABC affiliates if they continued to air Jimmy Kimmel's show.
Carr's stance on the news distortion policy has been criticized by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) accused Carr of being overly defensive, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has scheduled an FCC oversight hearing at which Carr will testify. The hearing is set to take place on December 17.
In a separate post, Sohn criticized Carr's handling of the Fox case and asked why he revived complaints against ABC and CBS stations but not against Fox. She also chided Carr for being defensive and accused him of trying to silence critics.
The news distortion policy has been a contentious issue at the FCC since its introduction, with some arguing that it is necessary to promote fairness in news reporting while others see it as an overreach of the agency's authority. With Carr's decision to continue enforcing the policy, the debate is likely to continue.
Carr's decision comes after four former FCC leaders - Mark Fowler, Dennis Patrick, Alfred Sikes, and Tom Wheeler - filed a petition asking the agency to repeal the policy. The group argued that the policy is no longer justifiable under today's First Amendment doctrine and that it can be exploited for partisan purposes.
In response to the petition, Carr posted on X, writing "How about no" and stating that the FCC will continue to hold broadcasters accountable to their public interest obligations. He also accused his critics of censoring conservatives and claimed that they are trying to undermine the agency's efforts to promote fairness in news reporting.
The news distortion policy has rarely been enforced since its introduction, with only one finding made after 1982. However, Carr has used the policy as a tool to threaten broadcasters who he alleges are biased against Republicans. In a recent incident, he threatened to revoke licenses from ABC affiliates if they continued to air Jimmy Kimmel's show.
Carr's stance on the news distortion policy has been criticized by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) accused Carr of being overly defensive, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has scheduled an FCC oversight hearing at which Carr will testify. The hearing is set to take place on December 17.
In a separate post, Sohn criticized Carr's handling of the Fox case and asked why he revived complaints against ABC and CBS stations but not against Fox. She also chided Carr for being defensive and accused him of trying to silence critics.
The news distortion policy has been a contentious issue at the FCC since its introduction, with some arguing that it is necessary to promote fairness in news reporting while others see it as an overreach of the agency's authority. With Carr's decision to continue enforcing the policy, the debate is likely to continue.
his tactics just gonna backfire & make ppl wonder if hes more worried bout ratings than fairness 
like i cant even believe FCC chairman brendan carr is still all about that news distortion policy 
even tho everyone else is like "dude what r u doing" 
how can u just censor people for being biased? that's like, literally the opposite of what we want 
. and btw why is he always attacking conservatives 
. i'm all for free speech too 
so cant he just focus on actual policy changes instead of trying to silence ppl? 
And let's be real, it's pretty easy to exploit this policy for partisan purposes... have you seen how he's been using it to threaten ABC affiliates? 
and whats with the drama over jimmy kimmel's show? if carr can just chill out and focus on promoting fairness in reporting then i think everyone would be happy 
Like, I get that it was meant to promote fairness in reporting, but c'mon, it's been a total black box deal since the 60s 
. The fact that only one finding has been made since 1982 is wild 
#FCC #NewsDistortionPolicy #FreeSpeech
but really he's just using the news distortion policy as a hammer to bash his enemies 
and he's got some serious nerve 
but nope carr is just picking and choosing who to go after 
and that's just not how it works 
but seriously,fcc should just focus on promoting fairness and transparency 
not trying to silence critics 
. He's basically saying that he's gonna keep on keeping on with it despite all the backlash because he thinks he knows what's best for the public interest 
. But honestly, I'm not convinced 
. The fact that four former FCC leaders are even speaking out against this policy is telling... maybe there's some real concern about where we're headed here 
but one thing's for sure: the debate around this policy isn't going away anytime soon 
.
. I mean, who needs free speech anyway? The thought of those old-school news anchors keeping their biases in check is just laughable 
. The whole "censoring conservatives" thing is just a smokescreen; we all know the real agenda here: to keep the establishment in check 
. i think this whole thing is just another example of the FCC trying to exert too much control over the media 
The fact that this policy hasn't been enforced in years and yet he still thinks it's a good idea is just mind-boggling... Can we please just scrap this whole thing and get back to having an open and honest discussion about news reporting?