House Commerce Democrats Launch Probe of FCC 'Weaponization' Against Broadcasters
The House Commerce Committee's Democratic leaders said Monday that they have launched an investigation into FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s “attacks on the First Amendment and his weaponization of the independent agency,” including multiple broadcaster probes he has initiated since taking over Jan. 20 (see 2502130060). Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina and 72 other Republican lawmakers are urging the FCC to “modernize” its “outdated” broadcast ownership rules to remove “undue constraints on broadcasters’ ability to innovate and invest in local content.”
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House Commerce Democrats are deeply concerned over “your actions to target and intimidate news organizations and broadcasters in violation of the First Amendment,” said ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Communications ranking member Doris Matsui of California and Oversight Subcommittee ranking member Yvette Clarke of New York in a letter to Carr. They said Carr has “weaponized” the FCC “against news outlets by not only questioning the speech and expressive conduct of targeted entities but also by abusing your power to formally accuse these speakers of wrongdoing.”
Those “actions are in flagrant disregard of the statutory jurisdiction of the Commission, lack any evidence of actual violations, and are conducted with apparent willful ignorance of FCC practice and legal precedent,” the Democrats' letter said. They cited Carr’s “harassment of CBS,” including the agency’s news distortion proceeding against the broadcaster (see 2503210060). In addition, “undertaking these official actions to pressure the regulated entity to settle its lawsuit with President [Donald] Trump for monetary damages could give the appearance that you are facilitating a bribe to the President to drop these investigations” amid the FCC's review of Skydance’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global (see 2502110073).
The Democrats recommended that FCC Inspector General Fara Damelin “open an investigation,” arguing that Carr “directing FCC staff to devote time and resources to bogus investigations constitutes a violation of the law, gross mismanagement, extreme waste of funds, and an abuse of authority.” They want an FCC response by April 14 with copies of all communications between Carr and Trump administration officials and “all documents related to its investigations of media entities.” The Democrats also want records on FCC officials’ travel with Trump, including to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
An FCC spokesperson countered that during the Biden administration, “Democrats repeatedly weaponized our nation’s communications laws and processes -- including the FCC’s own rules. Thankfully, Chairman Carr is putting these Biden-era abuses in the rear-view mirror and restoring the FCC’s commitment to basic fairness and even-handed treatment for everyone.” Carr said during a Monday appearance on Fox News that the “extreme weaponization of our country's communications laws” also involved “Democrats on” House Commerce. He cited a 2021 letter by two former House Communications Democrats, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney of California, that pressed multichannel video programming distributors to explain their decision to carry Fox News and fellow politically conservative media outlets Newsmax and One America News Network (see 2102220068). “What I'm making sure is that every single entity before the FCC gets a fair shake,” Carr said: “I think that's the right path forward.”
Meanwhile, Hudson and other House GOP lawmakers wrote Carr on Monday that the FCC’s media ownership “regulations are a relic of an era when broadcasters were the only electronic media. Today, any one of the largest Big Tech platforms dwarfs the entire broadcast industry -- yet they are held to no similar limitations on their reach. This imbalance places broadcasters at a severe disadvantage in competing for advertising dollars and audience engagement.” Carr has advocated for scrapping ownership limits (see 2503070034).
When “broadcasters cannot combine or expand operations, they struggle to maintain sufficient newsroom staff and invest in journalism,” the Republicans said. “This increasing lack of access to local information leaves communities vulnerable to misinformation from unverified sources on social media.”
NAB, which has also sought FCC action to rein in ownership rules (see 2502190064), publicized the letter Monday. “Quickly updating these rules is essential to preserving local journalism, strengthening public safety and ensuring that broadcasters can continue to serve the communities that rely on them every day,” NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a statement.