After Donald Trump’s Attacks On Media, A Reminder Of What The FCC Can – And Cannot – Do Before An Election

deadline.com:

Donald Trump‘s call last week for CBS to lose its license for the way that it edited a Kamala Harris interview — he says it was “election interference” — drew a rebuke from the chair of the FCC, the agency that oversees broadcasting. “The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage,” said chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

This wasn’t Trump’s first time calling for a broadcaster to lose its license, and it’s also not the first time that he’s misconstrued just what the FCC can and cannot do, particularly as an election approaches.

Trump’s repeated attacks on CBS are part of a continuous longtime effort to undermine mainstream media, but he also is not alone in thinking that the FCC has an authority it really does not. Licensing. Networks are not licensed, but their broadcast stations are.

And when it comes to news content, the FCC has made clear that its enforcement in that is very “narrow in scope” due to the First Amendment.