Wheeler and Sikes Condemn Carr, Want Public Interest Proceeding
Former FCC Chairmen Tom Wheeler and Al Sikes blasted the Trump administration in a Newsweek op-ed for upending 90 years of precedent in only two months and turning the agency into “a blatantly partisan tool.” Wheeler, a Democrat, and Sikes,…
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a Republican, faulted FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for attacking free speech and President Donald Trump for eliminating the FCC’s independence. Carr has said protection of the public interest is the rationale behind his attacks on broadcast networks and others but hasn’t defined the term, they said. “Using vague government policy as a tool of political coercion is a tactic historically associated with authoritarian regimes.” Carr has also said he would hold a proceeding to clarify the meaning of public interest, but “to his discredit, he has yet to follow through,” the chairmen said. “Instead, he has commenced investigations into supposed violations of a standard whose details only he knows.” It's “now up to Chairman Carr to prevent such abuse by clearly defining his construction of the public interest standard and its relationship to the First Amendment," the chairmen wrote. The FCC didn't comment.