Trump Escalates Revocation Threats Against 'All Other Broadcast Licenses' Amid CBS Flap
Former President Donald Trump called Thursday for the FCC to pull licenses for all U.S. broadcast networks, an apparent escalation from his recent threats against ABC and CBS over what he claims has been biased coverage of his campaign as the Republicans’ 2024 nominee (see 2409110058). Trump has repeatedly sought FCC revocation of broadcasters’ licenses since early in his 2017-2021 administration (see 1710110075). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel quickly shot down Trump’s threat, going beyond her similar responses to past incidents (see 2409120056) and directly criticizing the former president.
Trump said Thursday that “CBS should lose its license” over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, and “it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS -- and maybe even WORSE!” Trump backed out of a similar interview that 60 Minutes offered. He sought an investigation Wednesday over CBS' editing of the Harris segment shown nationally Monday and wanted the network's news division to “be licensed” (see 2410090026). The FCC doesn’t credential news programs and grants licenses only to individual broadcast stations rather than entire networks.
CBS “has just created the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History” via the 60 Minutes segment, Trump said in a Truth Social post. He claimed in a separate post that CBS takes “everything I say, realize how totally BRILLIANT it is, and take it out.” 60 Minutes “does the exact opposite” with its coverage of Harris, Trump said: “Like the Democrat Party, THEY ARE A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” Trump appeared to be referencing a 2020 60 Minutes interview that he walked out of early, claiming it was biased. CBS and NAB didn’t immediately comment.
Rosenworcel directly countered Trump Thursday. “While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored,” she said. “As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.” Her past statement on Trump’s tussle with ABC over its handling of his Sept. 10 debate with Harris didn’t directly reference him. Rosenworcel similarly slammed the Florida Department of Health earlier this week after officials sent cease-and-desist letters to WCJB-TV Gainesville and several broadcast stations for airing ads in support of a state-level abortion rights referendum.
Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington didn’t comment. Carr has repeatedly dodged recent questions about whether he will acquiesce to Trump’s requests if he becomes FCC chairman next year (see 2409190063). Simington pushed back last month saying the FCC should renew the license of Fox station WTXF-TV Philadelphia over the opposition of public interest group the Media and Democracy Project (MAD), which he claims is an attempt to weaponize the commission’s licensing authority (see 2409130062). Ajit Pai, who was FCC chairman during the Trump administration, didn't comment. Pai routinely disavowed licensing threats when he led the commission (see 1802210060).
'Wake-Up Call': Wheeler
Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the agency during former President Barack Obama’s second term, told us Trump’s escalation targeting all broadcast licensees “should be a wake-up call for all broadcasters. This isn't just show biz. This isn't just ‘Trump being Trump.’ Broadcasters are now in the Trump bullseye.” The Republican candidate is “an unstable man [who] is threatening the stability of broadcast licenses held in the public interest,” Wheeler emailed. “It is a threat that should not be considered in isolation” given previously he “announced his intention to strip agencies like the FCC of their independence, make the agencies report to him, and strip out the professional staff so they can be replaced by those who will do his bidding” (see 2407110054).
Freedom Forum First Amendment specialist Kevin Goldberg emphasized that Trump’s escalating threats are not “to be taken seriously because it's so patently unconstitutional.” Neither the FCC nor any government body “has the power to shut down CBS or any other broadcast station or broadcast network or to challenge the license of any station over the president's or the government's perception that they are engaged in biased news reporting,” he said in an interview. “It’s just not something the FCC has the power to do” because the stations have First Amendment protections.
American Action Forum Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling conversely said that “while a government threat to revoke licenses due to unfavorable coverage may seem unfathomable, it may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.” Westling cited the FCC's little-used news distortion rule allows the agency to act against a broadcaster’s license if that broadcaster intentionally distorts news. Although “the rule exists, it would be difficult to apply it in this situation,” he told us. CBS doesn’t own many of the stations that air 60 Minutes, so most of its affiliates don't control the network’s national programming and can’t intentionally distort the news. Such a complaint would also “probably need to allege CBS management deliberately instructed news anchors or hosts to intentionally distort the information presented to viewers,” Westling said: “This would be difficult to prove.”
Trump's comments also drew criticism during a Thursday National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters event. Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council President Robert Branson compared Trump's threats against TV stations to the U.S. government's attempts to suppress the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s. All the FCC's Democratic commissioners have been clear that it isn't the purview of the FCC to evaluate a station's license based on its content, said Hannah Lepow, an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “I think that shows us that the candidates couldn't be more different,” said NABOB President Jim Winston.