FCC Chairman Who Revived ‘60 Minutes’ Inquiry Once Said Newsroom Decisions “Should Be Beyond The Reach Of Any Government Official”

deadline.com:

In one of his initial acts since becoming FCC chairman, Brendan Carr last month revived a complaint against CBS News over the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harrisduring the 2024 presidential election season.

On Friday, in response to an FCC inquiry, the network said it would hand over the unedited transcript and video of the interview, the source of a complaint and a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump.

But four years ago, Carr, in his role as an FCC commissioner, argued that government efforts to inquire about editorial decision-making was outside the scope of federal scrutiny, given “First Amendment norms.” At the time, two Democrats on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerny, had sent a letter to major multichannel distributors, asking them whether they planned to continue to carry Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax, in light of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

In their eyes, the rightward news outlets had contributed to the spread of misinformation. Their letter, though, triggered an outcry, not just from Republicans but from a media group, The Media Institute, as well as from Carr.