Rejecting Petition, FCC Slams Free Press, Defers to Stations' News Judgment
The FCC rejected Free Press’ emergency petition for inquiry into broadcasters airing allegedly false information about COVID-19 (see 2004060026). FCC Republicans slammed the petition as an attack on free speech. “At best, the Petition rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Commission’s limited role in regulating broadcast journalism,” said a Monday letter from General Counsel Tom Johnson and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey. “At worst, the Petition is a brazen attempt to pressure broadcasters to squelch their coverage of a President that Free Press dislikes.”
FP co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez condemned the response from FCC “Republican ideologues.” When the agency “feels like it can score points with the Trump administration and its right-wing base, it answers very quickly, but without giving any serious thought to the FCC’s public-interest mandate or to the life-and-death consequences of the issue at hand,” she said. “The federal government will not -- and never should-- investigate broadcasters for their editorial judgments simply because a special interest group is angry at the views being expressed on the air as well as those expressing them,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. The materials are posted on the agency’s website under the header “FCC Defends 1st Amendment.”
The petition urged the agency to examine whether stations have transmitted false information and use rules against broadcast hoaxes to require that the outlets air disclosures about any false information. The FCC has issued warnings about false COVID-19 information in phone and text scams, and other federal agencies issued similar guidance, FP said. The broadcast hoax rule has a very narrow application, and FP requests would raise First Amendment questions, the FCC’s letter said. Pai said that "we will not censor the news" and "leave it to broadcasters to determine for themselves how to cover this national emergency, including live events involving our nation’s leaders.”
Medical and scientific information is difficult to corroborate, the pandemic is a rapidly moving target, and the White House is holding daily briefings, the agency said. “It is implausible, if not absurd, to suggest that broadcasters knowingly deceived the public by airing these press conferences or other statements by the President about COVID-19.” There's “a strong argument that broadcasters are serving the public interest when they air live coverage of important news events.”
In a series of tweets, Commissioner Brendan Carr characterized the petition as part of a concerted attempt by left-wing groups to suppress their opponents’ speech. “It won’t be the left’s last attempt to weaponize the FCC against conservative voices,” he said. Free State Foundation tweeted that all commissioners should condemn the petition.
Denying the request was correct, and a president’s news conference is “100 percent” newsworthy, said Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication assistant media law professor. He called Pai’s and Carr’s comments “unnecessary.” Historically, it’s FCC conservatives who seek to enforce indecency rules, Terry said. If the agency’s Republicans were really adamant about protecting free speech, they wouldn’t take down noninterfering pirate radio stations, and would let stations know they needn’t fear indecency enforcement, Terry said.
Pai and Carr are “only on guard for what they consider as attacks on the press from people outside their political bubble,” said Gonzalez. “They are far less concerned about defending the First Amendment when those threats come from President Trump, who constantly threatens news organizations and declares war on individual journalists.”
An NAB spokesperson praised the FCC ruling. Tech Freedom said Free Press’ demands would “ironically undermine a free press.” Freedom of the news media is the “antidote” to FP concerns, said the FCC’s letter.