FCC Expands Free Speech By Requiring More Presidential Speech
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr expanded the First Amendment on Wednesday by clarifying that Americans are free to hear President Donald Trump whenever federal regulators determine they should. Carr said ABC’s decision not to carry Trump’s July 16 election-security address live on its broadcast network could factor into an early license review involving eight Disney-owned stations. ABC instead streamed the speech on ABC News Live, aired it on ABC News Radio and covered it in later newscasts, an airtight blackout that concealed the president everywhere except television, radio, streaming platforms and the news.
Trump had called for licenses held by ABC and NBC stations to be revoked after the networks declined to interrupt regular programming, correctly identifying editorial discretion as a dangerous form of private decision-making. “We have tremendous free speech, maybe the freest speech anybody has ever seen, but it only works when every channel carries me live and nobody changes the subject,” Trump said. “If viewers are allowed to watch something else, that is censorship, because they are not hearing the speech they freely chose not to hear.” Carr’s approach modernizes the First Amendment by transferring programming decisions from media companies to government officials who become involved only after the president complains.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez objected that punishing broadcasters for editorial choices could amount to political retaliation, relying on an obsolete interpretation of the Constitution in which government pressure was considered government pressure. Under the updated Public Interest Standard, local stations may demonstrate independence by airing presidential remarks immediately, courage by declining to edit them and neutrality by ensuring competing programming does not compete. Networks remain free to select their own schedules, provided those schedules have already been approved through the traditional constitutional process of avoiding a license investigation. Viewers likewise retain the unrestricted right to change the channel, as long as the replacement channel is carrying the same presidential speech. Free speech is now secure because the government decides when everyone must listen.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.