FCC Received 40 Consumer Complaints About 'Fake News' Since October, Reports CJR
The FCC provided 40 records to the Columbia Journalism Review, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request for consumer complaints, submitted since Oct. 1, containing the phrase "fake news." On CJR Wednesday, Jonathan Peters wrote that 19 of the…
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40 records focused on "the mainstream media's reporting as a whole" or highlighted "supposedly left-leaning" organizations such as CNN and MSNBC, while five addressed Fox News. The remaining complaints were "about the National Enquirer’s presence at supermarket checkouts and the urgent need for the FCC to 'drain' Facebook’s 'swamp,'" he said. In some cases, the agency responded that it lacks jurisdiction, told people to refer the matter to the FTC, or said the FCC can't censor or restrict availability of nonbroadcast programming like CNN shown over cable and satellite systems.