FCC chairman rejects Trump’s call to revoke ABC licenses over presidential debate By Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission rejected former U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Walt Disney-owned ABC should lose its broadcast licenses over the network’s moderation of the Sept. 10 presidential debate.

“The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Commission does not revoke the licenses of broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or does not like the content or coverage,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday.

The FCC, an independent federal agency, does not grant licenses to broadcast networks, but issues them to individual broadcast stations that are renewed for eight-year periods.

Trump claimed the debate was “rigged” because ABC News moderators vetted several comments he made.

“They should get their license for the way they did this,” Trump told Fox News.

The Trump campaign and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rosenworcel, a Democrat, made the statement after Sens. Ed Markey and Ron Wyden asked the five FCC commissioners to address Trump’s comments.

The senators, both Democrats, said “the former president’s threat to revoke the FCC’s license because of his dissatisfaction with ABC’s handling of the debate is a serious threat to the First Amendment and antithetical to the FCC’s mission.”

Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told a House hearing Thursday that he will always make decisions in accordance with the law and the First Amendment, but would not say whether he believes the FCC has grounds to revoke ABC’s license after the debate.

In 2017, then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who served as FCC chairman after being tapped by Trump, dismissed Trump’s tweet that the FCC could challenge NBC’s license after it published the stories which Trump declared untrue.

“The FCC under my leadership will uphold the First Amendment,” Pai said.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

When reviewing licenses, the FCC must determine whether a renewal is in the public interest. Courts have held that First Amendment rights prevent the FCC from denying a license based on editorial decisions.

Rosenworcel said the FCC’s license reviews “do not involve the government making editorial decisions about content. To do so would be an affront to our First Amendment tradition.”