The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday revived complaints about how ABC News moderated a pre-election TV debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and CBS’s 60 Minutes and NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Kamala Harris’ appearance on Live.
Last week, then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said the commission was rejecting complaints that “seek to weaponize the FCC’s licensing authority in a way that fundamentally violates the First Amendment.” It’s contradictory.” Then, on Wednesday, the FCC said in a series of orders that the complaints were “prematurely dismissed based on an insufficient investigative record.”
The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations, not networks. The complaints named specific stations of three broadcasters. NBC, Walt Disney-owned ABC and Paramount’s CBS had no immediate comment.
Brandon Carr, who was nominated by Trump on Monday to be chairman of the FCC, declined to comment, but told Fox News Business on Wednesday that a major focus “on the media to look into and ensure that they fulfill their public interest obligations”.
Carr previously criticized Comcast-owned NBC for allowing Harris to appear on Saturday Night Live right before the election. Rosenworcel noted that NBC made equal time and audience available to Trump during the two sporting events.
Ana Gomez, an FCC commissioner and a Democrat, responded by saying, “We cannot allow our licensing authority to be weaponized to curtail freedom of the press. The First Amendment is a pillar of American democracy, and our country’s A press free from the interference of regulators like me is needed.
Rosenworcel also said last week that the agency had rejected a request not to renew the license of the Philadelphia Fox TV station. The FCC did not reinstate the complaint.
In September, Trump urged the FCC to revoke the license for ABC over the network’s moderation of the September 10 presidential debate.
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In October, Trump sued CBS over a 60 Minutes interview with Harris that he called “misleading” and asked the commission to compel the broadcaster to release the transcript.
