5 Former FCC Commissioners Condemn News Distortion Proceeding

A bipartisan group of former FCC commissioners have condemned the agency’s news distortion proceeding against CBS in joint comments posted Thursday. “These comments are submitted to emphasize the unprecedented nature of this news distortion proceeding, and to express our strong concern” that the FCC “may be seeking to censor the news media in a manner antithetical to the First Amendment,” said the letter from former Chairmen Alfred Sikes and Tom Wheeler and former Commissioners Gloria Tristani, Rachelle Chong and Ervin Duggan. Sikes and Chong are Republicans, while Chong, Duggan and Tristani are Democrats. The signatories “served under both Republican and Democratic leadership, and from that experienced perspective, express deep concern about the breadth of the content regulation authority asserted by this proceeding.” If the FCC doesn’t act to close the proceeding, it would suggest “that the Commission has been transformed into a tool of White House-driven speech suppression.” In response to a request for comment, the FCC repeated a statement from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr declining to end the proceeding, which it previously issued after a similar request from conservative groups (see 2503210060).