If the FCC is going to threaten broadcast licenses over which presidential speeches networks choose to air, then it needs to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine — right now. You can't selectively punish ABC for skipping a Trump speech while ignoring every other editorial decision every other broadcaster makes every single day. That's not public-interest regulation. That's a political loyalty test.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez is right: compelling broadcasters to carry specific content is both censorship and compelled speech, and it violates the First Amendment. Chairman Carr's standard — that airing a presidential address is a "public interest" obligation — has no limiting principle unless it applies equally to all political speech. The FCC already forced ABC to reapply for eight station licenses after Trump demanded Jimmy Kimmel be fired. Now it's folding a speech full of unsubstantiated election fraud claims into that same license review. This is the government using regulatory power to punish editorial independence.
Restore the Fairness Doctrine and apply it uniformly, or get the FCC out of the business of deciding which speech deserves protection. Anything in between is authoritarian censorship dressed up in bureaucratic language.
First sent on July 23 by Progressive Action
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