A federal communications commissioner on Monday blasted two prominent House Democrats for suggesting that video providers should quit Fox News and other channels.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr thwarted the California Reps effort. Anna Ishu and Jerry McNearney as “chilling transitions” of free speech, Arbitration reported.
“The concerted effort by Democrats to remove political dissent from the public square represents a marked departure from these First Amendment norms,” Carter said in a statement.
Lawmakers sent letters to a dozen cable, satellite and streaming video companies on Monday, prompting them to “broadcast misinformation to millions” of users of some networks.
The letters suggested that companies – including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Apple, and Amazon – played a “major role in the dissemination of dangerous misinformation that led to the capital riot on January 6” and hindered our public health response in coronovirus It puts Ubiquitous epidemic.
He alleged that “right-wing media outlets, such as Newsmax, One America News Network (OANN), and Fox News all disseminated misinformation about the November 2020 elections.”
The lawmakers asked whether the companies planned to continue those channels, and “if so, why?”
“Do moral or ethical principles … do you apply in deciding which channel to carry or when to take adverse action against a channel?”
In his statement, Carr said Democrats were sending a “disturbing” message that “regulated entities will pay a price if the targeted news rooms do not conform to Democrats’ favorite political narratives.”
“This is a chilling transition to free speech rights that every media outlet in this country enjoys,” he said.
The FCC chief said that the demand of MPs is to know how private companies decide which channels cannot be “harmonized with the basic principles of free speech and journalistic freedom.”
“I call upon my FCC colleagues to join me to publicly refute this effort to nullify political speech and independent news decision.”
Letters came before a hearing house. Democrats on Wednesday staged “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremeism in the Media”.
The hearing will be hosted by a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which both Ishu and McNern sit.
With post wires
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