FCC’s Carr Says Local Stations Are Pushing Back Over Content

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said the US media ecosystem is changing, with local broadcasters emboldened to push back against national programmers over content they feel isn’t serving the public interest.

Speaking on CNBC on Thursday, Carr said Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s decision to pull late-night comedy host Jimmy Kimmel’s show, was a sign of a “healthy, functioning market,” and indicative of a “much bigger shift that’s taking place right now in the media ecosystem.”

Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the US Federal Communications Commission, said President Donald Trump wouldn’t legally be able to make good on threats to pull TV station licenses over content he doesn’t like.

The FCC doesn’t have the “authority or the ability to take action against broadcasters because of their content,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday.

The administration is using the threat of license revocations to “pressure companies one way or another, whether it is to settle lawsuits or give up their rights as organizations,” Gomez said. “What we are seeing is this administration use whatever levers of power it has to bring broadcasters to heel and the news media.”

Bloomberg's Matt Schettenhelm reports.

Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, pulled host Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely on Wednesday over remarks he made about the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk. That prompted a wave of outrage from Democratic lawmakers, Hollywood celebrities and free-speech advocates.

National television networks, such as ABC, don’t need government-issued licenses to operate. Individual TV stations, which pay fees to become affiliates of the national networks, do.

Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Sinclair Television Group, two of the biggest station operators in the US, pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air on Wednesday after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr encouraged local stations to “push back” on coverage that doesn’t serve local communities.

“There is no basis for revoking any licenses because of the Jimmy Kimmel content or because of normal editorial decisions from a broadcaster,”she said.

Gomez, who has been an outspoken critic of Carr and Trump’s attacks on the media, said it’s important to recognize that Kimmel’s show is satire, not news and isn’t trying to inform the public about a particular newsworthy event.

While some critics have claimed Kimmel’s comments amounted to news distortion, she said it “does not meet the standard for news distortion.” If a formal complaint were filed, the commission would have to see if any rules were violated.

“I can tell you today there were no violations under the law with these facts,” she said.

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