FCC Chief Brendan Carr Says Trump ‘Has Been Right’ on Media Bias Claims Amid CBS Probe; Anna Gomez Decries ‘Chilling Effect’ and ‘Weaponization’ of Agency

variety.com:

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The Federal Communications Commission has broken with decades of precedent for the independent regulatory agency by charging into the highly politicized debate about bias in media and the fairness of the coverage produced by mainstream news organizations.

CBS News has been caught in the crossfire of newly appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s desire to investigate claims of “news distortion” in connection with a “60 Minutes” sit-down interview in October with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

It comes at a time when CBS’ parent company has a merger proposal pending with the FCC, which has to approve the transfer of CBS’ TV station licenses to the proposed new owner, Skydance Media.

Amid this pitched environment, “60 Minutes” complied with the FCC’s request for the release of the full, unedited 53-minute interview conducted by correspondent Bill Whitaker, plus two other related interviews conducted for the Oct.