Far-Left Media Group Asks FCC To Censor Trump Press Conferences
By: Molly Hemingway
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An influential far-left media group has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to develop a wide-ranging censorship plan of President Donald Trump’s press conferences. “Free Press,” the group calling for the censorship of broadcasts of the press conferences, says in its petition that it’s a “life and death” issue. They are asking the FCC to limit the public’s right to hear directly from the president about the federal government’s handling of the global pandemic, that any broadcasts of his press conferences come with a pronounced disclaimer, and that media figures with different political views than the progressive organization be further censored.
“This is a sweeping and dangerous attempt by the far left to weaponize the FCC against conservative media outlets and elected officials. They want to turn the FCC into a roving speech police empowered to go after the left’s political opponents,” says FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr.
While the requests are extreme, Free Press has previously taken far-left views about government control of the media and turned them into orthodox Democratic Party positions. The group successfully lobbied the FCC under President Obama to regulate the internet via Title II “net neutrality” rules, later repealed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has described Free Press as “ a spectacularly misnamed Beltway lobbying group .”
FCC rules regulating the broadcast of intentional hoaxes could be used to limit media coverage of President Trump, Free Press argues. The Commission’s previous ruling that the government has a “compelling interest in preventing substantial public harm,” could be interpreted to prevent unregulated media coverage of the president, Free Press argues. The group posits no limit to its theory, setting up a system where the FCC could shut down any group pushing ideas it doesn’t like.
To make their case, they cite President Trump’s discussion of an anti-malarial treatment that some doctors had been using to treat COVID-19. He specifically said that even if it didn’t work as treatment, it had been used for so long in humans, that the risk was low. “It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned, it’s not going to kill anybody,” he said.
Free Press argued that a man without COVID-19 who died after ingesting fish tank cleaner at home, outside the direction of any medical professional, was a victim of Trump’s remarks and that therefore its censorship plan should be adopted. Citing anti-Trump activists who blamed Trump for this death, Free Press called Trump’s support for the treatment “deadly disinformation.” The group also claimed that Trump had engaged in a “mischaracterization of the efficacy” of hydroxychloroquine.
In recent days, the FDA approved the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 patients. And the New York Times conceded that the drug “ helped to speed the recovery ” of a group of patients who were stricken by the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Free Press cofounder and longtime board member Robert W. McChesney is an avowed socialist. He has made his views clear, saying “In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.” He also said of his work, “[w]e need to do whatever we can to limit capitalist propaganda, regulate it, minimize it, and perhaps even eliminate it.” He has also praised Venezuela’s control of the media.
Free Press’s censorship plan echoes one suggested last year by Democrat FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Her plan was to censor e-cigarette ads on television in the name of “public interest.” The plan has statutory and constitutional obstacles , notes Jacob Sullum.
Particularly since the election of Trump in 2016, progressive groups have been making a concerted effort to use the government to limit the expression of conservative speech. These prominent groups and representatives are openly signaling that they would use the power of the FCC to censor conservative speech if they were to gain control of the commission under a Democratic president.
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
They saw the President get the 60% approval rating from Gallup and they decided to try and censor the President's briefings.
Some of our resident lefties hate when I make the comparison to what Trump went through via all the animosity he faced with the hatred and animosity Lincoln endured. Well I'm going to make another comparison and it goes like this - Lincoln had to deal with the Civil War and Trump has to deal with a vicious pandemic and a destroyed economy!
That claim is a lie Vic. His handling of the Corona virus, got a 60% approval. Trump's approval has never reached 50%, it is currently at his record high of 49%.
It's not a lie - that is exactly what I was referring to- The Gallup poll. Stop twisting and deflecting.
And you knew it!
HE HAS A 60% APPROVAL RATING FOR HIS HANDLING OF THIS ENORMOUS PANDEMIC/ECONOMIC MESS!
For the ninth time, Trump celebrates hitting 50 percent approval
And his approval rating will be considerably higher by election day, with the coronavirus outbreak coming under control and the economy recovering nice.
Why would any rational human being want to drop Sleepy Creepy old Joe Biden into the middle of the recovery?
It’s just ridiculous that a progressive liberal biased lamestream media would turn to a federal regulatory agency to try to curtail the free speech rights of the President of the United States.
todays left are communist at heart - censorship is in their SOP's
they only value free speech when they have it. everyone who disagrees with them must shut up.
I say good luck with that... LOL
they may get a few websites here and there, like this one, to allow the comrades to censor based on perceived bias but on the national stage, their dreams are never gonna happen.
They walk the earth without a heart or conscience
censorship is in their SOP's
Correct!
they only value free speech when they have it. everyone who disagrees with them must shut up.
Right again!
they may get a few websites here and there
Well let's see they politicized & weaponized the DOJ, FBI, CIA and the State Department, while saddling the CDC with mission creep. Ruined a free & fair press. I'd say they have been highly effective!
that was then...
. I'm not saying the war is over but yes, today they are on the back foot.
nothing they try will produce any gains for them.
their best days are far behind them and their worst nightmares are just months ahead.
so, its all good
Let us not forget that Barr and Durham are quietly going about their investigations while all this mess is going on.
"and their worst nightmares are just months ahead."
Should be fun to watch! God bless America and guide us through this crisis.
I dont think we should censor him but we should all laugh at the moron.
He should also be told he is going to be cut off after one hour. That is more than long enough of having to listen to him in one day.
Didn't bother reading the article, huh?
It's more fun to laugh to laugh at you for embarrassing yourself by posting silly stuff on a daily basis.
I won’t forget either.
Lefties - Oh my god Trump did something grab your pitchforks and torches!
Righties - Oh my god the Lefties are yelling at Trump! Grab your pitchforks and torches!
blah blah blah.... When hasn't one far side or the other want to shut down the other? In this case did the FCC do anything? No? Then what's the fuss?
We saw what was done to the FBI. We saw what was done to the IRS.
We know what can happen.
It seems like a sizable portion of the left has little regard for the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the law in general, the presumption of innocence, or due process.
Censoring and silencing their opposition and alternate views have always been part of their playbook.
They have shown this repeatedly over the decades, and particularly during the Trump administration.
I guess she answered their petition with a solid "fuk off"
too funny,
fun fact: it will many generations before the lefts BS of the past decade works again... and even then they will fail for the same reasons as today.
tis the circle of life in the usa
It doesn't make any sense. If you don't want to broadcast him, no one is going to make you. You don't need the FCC.
I think it's funny how Trump and his supporters were branded as lunatics for suggesting that there might be career government employees and agencies conspiring to work against him, but here are these folks looking for exactly that kind of help.