History suggests that Republicans will regret letting the FCC police TV programming.
“When 97 percent of the stories are bad”, President Donald Trump declared on Friday, “it’s no longer free speech.” When TV networks “take a great story” and “make it bad”, he added, “I think that’s really illegal.”
Trump was wrong on both points. And in groping toward a justification for the regulatory threats that preceded Jimmy Kimmel’s expulsion from his late-night slot on ABC, Trump embraced a principle that historically was bad for conservatives—one they are apt to regret reviving.
“You have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump”, the president complained. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
Trump made similar noises during his first administration, saying “network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked.” But Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), rejected that suggestion in no uncertain terms.
“I believe in the First Amendment”, Pai said. “The FCC under my leadership will stand for the First Amendment, and under the law the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.”
The difference this time around is that the FCC’s current chairman, Brendan Carr, clearly has no such constitutional compunctions.
