In one of her final acts as head of the FCC, chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel ordered the agency to reject four complaints and petitions against local TV stations — which she says represent politically motivated efforts “to curtail freedom of the press and undermine the First Amendment.”
“Today, I have directed the FCC to take a stand on behalf of the First Amendment. We draw a bright line at a moment when clarity about government interference with the free press is needed more than ever,” she said in a statement. “The action we take makes clear two things. First, the FCC should not be the President’s speech police. Second, the FCC should not be journalism’s censor-in-chief.”
Rosenworcel, a Democrat, is set to step down as head of the FCC with President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump has picked Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner at the FCC, as the agency’s new chairman, calling him “a warrior for Free Speech” who has “fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy.”
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Rosenworcel called out Trump in her statement about dismissing the four TV station complaints. The “incoming President has called on the Federal Communications Commission to revoke licenses for broadcast television stations because he disagrees with their content and coverage,” she said.
“The facts and legal circumstances in each of these cases are different,” Rosenworcel said. “But what they share is that they seek to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment. To do so would set a dangerous precedent. That is why we reject it here.”
Rosenworcel continued, “It may seem quaint to draw attention like this to broadcast licenses, in an era when so many of us seek out information we want, when we want it, from where we want it, on any screen handy. But these stations remain a vital source of local and national news. And there is nothing antiquated about the idea that the FCC has a duty to respect the Constitution.”
Here are the three complaints and the one petition the FCC is dismissing:
- Complaint against ABC-owned WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, filed by the conservative Center for American Rights on Sept. 24, 2024, which alleged the presidential debate between Trump and VP Kamala Harris on Sept. 10 lacked objective balance and demonstrated favoritism. In a letter to the Center for American Rights, the FCC Enforcement Bureau denied the complaint, noting that the First Amendment restricts the agency from penalizing the station for the generalized grievances offered in the filing which would require interfering with principles of a free press.
- Complaint against CBS-owned WCBS in New York, filed by the Center for American Rights on Oct. 16, 2024, accusing the station of “significant and intentional news distortion” through an interview with Harris on “Face the Nation” and “60 Minutes” that had “two conflicting responses” and demanding CBS release an unedited transcript of the Harris interview. In a letter to the Center for American Rights, the Enforcement Bureau denied the complaint, noting that the First Amendment restricts the agency from interfering with the decision-making of a free press.
- Complaint against NBC-owned WNBC in New York, filed by the Center for American Rights on Nov. 4, 2024, alleging the station failed to comply with the FCC’s “equal time” rule when it featured Harris on “Saturday Night Live.” In an order, the FCC’s Media Bureau denied the complaint because the station complied with the rule by making available equivalent time and audience for then-candidate Trump with a 60-second message that aired during a NASCAR program and during the NFL “Sunday Night Football” game.
- Petition to revoke the broadcast license of Fox-owned WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, filed by the liberal Media and Democracy Project on July 3, 2023, which alleged that the station’s corporate parent — the Murdoch’s Fox Corp. — lacks the “character” to be a licensee of public airwaves, citing the defamation lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems regarding statements made on Fox News about the 2020 presidential election. (In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle the suit by Dominion, which had alleged Fox News repeatedly and knowingly aired false claims about the voting company’s actions and influence on the 2020 U.S. presidential election.) In an order, the FCC’s Media Bureau denied the petition because the “character assessment” requested is at odds with the First Amendment and continued freedom of the press.
In a joint statement about the FCC’s action, the Media and Democracy Project and former Fox Broadcasting executive Preston Padden (who provided “firsthand experience [of] Rupert Murdoch’s ultimate decision-making authority over every aspect of Fox operations”) said: “We look forward to presenting on appeal the multiple court decisions that raise serious questions about the Murdochs’ and Fox’s character qualifications to remain broadcast licensees.” The organization and Padden said their petition “is clearly distinct from the other politically motivated complaints” and “based on judicial findings that Fox made repeated false statements that undermined the electoral process and resulted in property damage, injury and death; that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch engaged in a ‘carefully crafted scheme’ in ‘bad faith’ to deprive Lachlan’s siblings of the control to which they are entitled under an irrevocable trust; and that ‘Murdoch knowingly caused the corporation to violate the law.’”