House Judiciary Democrats Blast Carr Over FCC's Broadcaster Probes
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland, other panel Democrats and Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron used a Wednesday hearing aimed at reviewing instances of claimed Biden administration censorship to lambaste Republican FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for ordering a string of investigations against U.S. broadcasters. The probes, launched since Carr took office Jan. 20, thus far focus on broadcasters that have aired content critical of President Donald Trump or otherwise face claims of pro-Democratic Party bias, though Carr has, in some cases, framed the scrutiny as focused on other matters (see 2502110063). House Judiciary Democrats also sharply criticized X owner Elon Musk for actions on the social media platform that they view as censorship of anti-Trump content.
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“Trump and his FCC are using their powers to investigate, sue and threaten newsgroups that dare to criticize the administration,” Raskin said. If Trump can push back against CBS' October 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, including launching an FCC news distortion probe (see 2502070067), because he thinks the editing “produced too favorable an impression of her,” then that means “I could sue Fox News because I think their interviews with Trump produce too favorable an impression of him.”
Trump “is unleashing his sycophant” Carr “on every news group whose stories he doesn't approve of, actually threatening to pull the government broadcast licenses” of network-owned stations, Raskin said. “Nothing of a hostile nature … has taken place against Fox News, which is now the de facto state-approved media” and “enjoys immunity from the repression visited on its liberal competitors. What is this, North Korea?”
The FCC and Carr’s office didn’t comment.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a former House Judiciary chairman, said Carr “is using his position to punish the news outlets that diverge from the White House's approved narrative, acting in violation of the Constitution, federal law and the FCC’s own mission.” Carr “has decided to use the agency to harass and intimidate news organizations that stray from the White House's talking points,” including reviving Center for American Rights challenges against stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC, which the FCC rejected in January at the end of former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s term (see 2501220059), Nadler said. He noted that Carr didn’t reinstate a challenge to the renewal of Fox-owned WTXF Philadelphia’s license.
'Chilling Message'
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Trump’s attacks against CBS amid the FCC’s review of Skydance’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global (see 2502110073) “might send a chilling message to news organizations.” CBS recently provided the FCC with a complete, unedited version of the Harris interview and contends that any editing of the footage was routine and aimed at shortening it for time and clarity (see 2502050063).
Free Press' Aaron said Carr “wants to revoke broadcast licenses because he doesn’t like the viewpoints he sees on TV. That’s censorship. The FCC also has threatened news organizations over editorial decision-marking, reporting on law enforcement and basic fact-checking.” Trump is “sitting in the Oval Office using the power of that office and of his appointees to go after the same companies he's filed lawsuits against,” including one seeking $20 billion from CBS over the 60 Minutes Harris interview, Aaron said. The “message is if you're not in line, if you're not singing from our hymnal, we're going to come after you with the force of the government.”
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and other Republicans largely avoided discussing the FCC’s actions since Trump returned to office, although Jordan said it was “ridiculous” for Democrats to suggest that the media has become “afraid” to report critically on the administration. Panel Republicans said it was hypocritical for Democrats to criticize Trump administration actions as censorship if they ignored efforts by Biden-era officials to combat COVID-19 misinformation on social media platforms. Some cited Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s August admission that the Biden administration “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to remove certain COVID-19 content (see 2408270048).
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said it’s appropriate for CBS to face news distortion claims over the 60 Minutes interview because it took responses from “a half-an-hour interview and cut and pasted them to create a completely different set of answers to questions.” He questioned whether CBS’ editing represented “outright fraud” and asked, “Why wouldn't you be sued for it if you maliciously and deliberately change the outcome in order to affect an election, potentially on behalf of a candidate?” Racket News founder Matt Taibbi said the “60 Minutes case” constituted “a kind of deceptive editing.” Most "news organizations would be embarrassed to be caught doing that kind of thing,” and CBS appeared from his perspective to feel that way, he said.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., wondered later in the hearing whether Congress should condition Communications Decency Act Section 230’s liability shield on platforms ensuring “they adhere to a free speech standard.” University of Austin professor Michael Shellenberger said that “if you're going to offer the sweeping liability protection, then I think that adult users of social media platforms should be able to choose and filter their own legal content.”