FCC chair intervenes as Trump threatens the free press (again)

Every four years, CBS’s “60 Minutes” invites the major party presidential nominees to sit down for interviews. In nearly every instance, they accept, as Vice President Kamala Harris did this year. Donald Trump, however, refused this year’s invitation — at least in part because, as one anchor explained on the air, the former president was concerned that the show would fact-check his claims.

Nevertheless, the Harris interview aired on Monday, even as Republicans claimed she was ducking interviews. Two days later, however, her GOP rival took matters in a decidedly weird direction.

Trump concocted a bizarre conspiracy theory in which CBS News personnel went to extraordinary lengths to edit the interview deliberately to make the Democratic nominee look better. The former president offered literally no evidence, but he nevertheless suggested that “60 Minutes” had engaged in “possibly illegal” misconduct. The Republican concluded that his weird conspiracy theory “must be investigated, starting today!”

A day later, his hysterics managed to get worse. Trump used his social media platform to argue that the people who work at “60 Minutes” are “A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY” and responsible for “the single biggest scandal in broadcast history.”

In a separate item, as his online meltdown continued, he added that the “UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! — which appears to exist only in his mind — should possibly force the Democratic ticket to “concede the Election.”

Perhaps most importantly, the GOP nominee wrote, “CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!”

In case that weren’t quite enough, Trump kept going during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club — he was supposed to deliver remarks on economic policy — adding new and imaginary details to his conspiracy theory, while again calling for CBS to lose its broadcast license.

After the event, the former president returned to his online platform, claiming he has “PROOF” to substantiate his bizarre claims, though he still hasn’t shared any such evidence.

This proved to be a bit too much for Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who issued a written statement responding to Trump’s nonsense. From her statement:

While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored. As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.

The part of this that stood out for me was the fact that the FCC “does not” revoke licenses for broadcast stations. It’s a highly relevant detail. In fact, as The Washington Post reported, “According to the FCC, only individual broadcast stations are licensed, not networks in their entirety. ‘We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR, except if those entities are also station licensees,’ the FCC says on its website.”

In other words, Trump didn’t just concoct a hysterical conspiracy theory, he also reminded the public that he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Nevertheless, the Republican is now on record targeting the broadcast licenses of CBS, ABC, CNN, NBC and MSNBC (my employer).