FCC Brendan Carr defended his threat to investigate or take action against ABC as part of the agency’s authority to enforce broadcasters’ public interest obligations.
After ABC announced that it was pulling Kimmel’s show indefinitely on Wednesday, Carr appeared on Fox News’ Hannity, telling the host, “We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation. If there’s broadcasters out there that don’t like it, they can turn their license into the FCC. But that’s our job. And again, we’re making some progress today.”
The FCC’s authority over programming, though, is exclusive, according to its own website.
“Pursuant to these legal mandates, the FCC has long held that ‘the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views.’ Rather than suppress speech, communications law and policy seeks to encourage responsive ‘counter-speech’ from others,” the FCC states. “Following this principle ensures that the most diverse and opposing opinions will be expressed, even though some views or expressions may be highly offensive.”
In the fallout over Carr’s threat and ABC’s decisions, one of the FCC chairman’s previous tweets has resurfaced in which he also acknowledges the limitations of the agency to regulate content.
Carr wrote on Twitter in 2019, “Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest.’”
Carr was reacting to an op ed in USA Today from Jessica Rosenworcel, then a Democratic commissioner, who was calling for restrictions on e-cigarette advertisements.
Earlier on Wednesday, Carr appeared on Benny Johnson’s podcast and blasted Kimmel’s remark on Monday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel said, “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Tuesday, authorities charged Tyler Robinson, 22, in Kirk’s killing, along with a series of other charges. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said that Robinson’s mother said her son “had become more political and had started to lean more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented.” Gray said that when Robinson’s father asked his son why he did it, Robinson “explained that there was too much evil, and the guy, referring to Charlie Kirk, spreads too much hate.”
ABC’s decision to pull Kimmel’s show came after Nexstar, the nation’s largest station group, said it would pre-empt the late night program from its ABC stations over the Kirk remarks. Sinclair Broadcast Group also said that it would do the same.
Nexstar is looking to secure FCC approval for its proposed merger with Tegna. Nexstar and Sinclair also are lobbying the FCC to repeal its broadcast ownership rule, that limits any one company from collectively reaching more than 39% of U.S. households.
Preston Padden, who formerly led government relations for The Walt Disney Co., praised Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, for speaking out against Carr’s threats. Gomez appeared on CNN. On X, Padden also urged “broadcasters tempted to give up the industry’s First Amendment rights to curry favor with the FCC to secure approval of a business offer to reconsider their position.”
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