News distortion complaints Trumps FCC chair gets to work on punishing TV news stations accused of bias Chairman Brendan Carr revives bias complaints against CBS, ABC, and NBC stations. Jon Brodkin Jan 23, 2025 11:52 am | 111 FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreFederal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has revived three complaints against broadcast stations accused of bias against President Donald Trump.Outgoing Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week directed the FCC to dismiss the complaints against CBS, ABC, and NBC stations, along with a fourth complaint about Fox, in what she called a stand for the First Amendment. Rosenworcel said the "threat to the First Amendment has taken on new forms, as the incoming President has called on the Federal Communications Commission to revoke licenses for broadcast television stations because he disagrees with their content and coverage."But in three orders issued yesterday, the FCC Enforcement Bureau reversed the CBS, ABC, and NBC decisions. "We find that the previous order was issued prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record for the station-specific conduct at issue," each new order said. "We therefore conclude that this complaint requires further consideration."The revived complaints target WNBC in New York, WCBS in New York, and 6 ABC in Philadelphia (also known as WPVI-TV). The complaints were filed by the Center for American Rights and supported Trump's claims of bias regarding ABC's fact-checking during a presidential debate, the editing of a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, and NBC putting Harris on a Saturday Night Live episode. The complaints against CBS and ABC were made under the FCC's news distortion rules, while the complaint against NBC alleges a violation of the FCC's Equal Time rule.We must respect the First AmendmentCommissioner Anna Gomez, one of two Democrats on the commission, criticized the Carr FCC's decisions. "As I stated last week, we cannot allow our licensing authority to be weaponized to curtail freedom of the press," Gomez said yesterday. "The First Amendment is a pillar of American democracy, and our country needs a press free from interference from regulators like me. In fact, the Communications Act explicitly prohibits the Commission from censoring broadcasters. We must respect the protections of the First Amendment and the restrictions in the Communications Act."The previous decisions were easy to reverse. There's an FCC rule saying that the agency "may, on its own motion, set aside any action made or taken by it within 30 days from the date of public notice of such action."Carr has made it clear that he wants the FCC to punish news broadcasters that he perceives as being unfair to Trump or Republicans in general. He claimed that NBC putting Harris on Saturday Night Live before the election was "a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule," even though NBC gave Trump two free 60-second messages in order to comply with the rule.Carr also told Fox News that he is interested in investigating the complaint against CBS when the FCC reviews a pending deal involving Skydance and Paramount, which owns and operates 28 local broadcast TV stations of the CBS Television Network. "I'm pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCC's review of that transaction," Carr said.Carr intends to weaponize the FCCAfter Rosenworcel dismissed the complaints, the Center for American Rights said it would keep fighting. "We fundamentally believe that several actions taken by the three major networks were partisan, dishonest and designed to support Vice President Harris in her bid to become President," the group said in a statement provided to Ars last week. "We will continue to pursue avenues to ensure the American public is protected from media manipulation of our Republic. The First Amendment does not protect intentional misrepresentation or fraud."In a statement applauding Carr's reversal today, the group said that Rosenworcel's "last-minute actions were political, not based on a principled defense of the First Amendment."Networks have denied allegations of bias. "Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false," CBS said. "60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response."Rosenworcel last week also rejected a petition to deny a license renewal for WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, a station owned and operated by Fox. The Media and Democracy Project petition alleged that Fox willfully distorted news with false reports of fraud in the 2020 election that Trump lost.Rosenworcel said the complaints and petition she dismissed "come from all cornersright and leftbut what they have in common is they ask the FCC to penalize broadcast television stations because they dislike station behavior, content, or coverage." Yesterday, advocacy group Public Knowledge said that "in reinstating just those complaints that suit his partisan agenda, Chairman Carr has made it plain he intends to weaponize the FCC to threaten political speech and news coverage he disagrees with."Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 111 Comments