WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr appeared before a Senate oversight committee on Wednesday and faced harsh criticism by Democrats on various topics including threats against TV broadcasters for carrying ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel. One senator said Carr should resign.
[This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Radio World; their extensive coverage of regulatory and business issues can be found here.]
Republican Olivia Trusty and Democrat Anna Gomez also appeared and faced direct questioning from committee members, but the controversial chairman was the main focus.
Issues raised during the meeting included Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative to do away with outdated regulations, spectrum reallocation and current broadcast ownership rules.
But it was Carr’s use of public interest and “news distortion” policies that sparked the most debate.
Carr had met in advance with several Senate Republicans to prepare for the onslaught of questions. He touted his accomplishments in an opening statement, saying the pipeline has reopened to freeing more spectrum to advance next-generation technologies now that Congress has restored the commission’s auction authority.
However, following statements by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the committee quickly focused questions on Carr and his actions in his first year as chairman.
At the center of much of the hearing was Carr’s actions following the Kimmel monologue controversy. Carr was critical of Kimmel’s comments on his late-night TV show and faced backlash after pressuring broadcasters to take the ABC program off the air in late September. Carr warned then that local broadcasters that aired Kimmel could face fines or loss of licenses.
At the time, Cruz was sharply critical of Carr. He took a more conciliatory tone during the hearing.
Cruz did say that the government cannot “force private entities to take actions that the government cannot take directly. Government officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech.”
Carr defended his actions, saying he was enforcing the public interest standard as charged by Congress. “We should be enforcing those rules and policies,” he said.
Republicans on the committee were generally complimentary of Carr’s policies. Carr clashed often with Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
“After Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue, you went on a podcast and suggested that ABC should take Kimmel off the air, saying, ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’ Those were your words. Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire?” she asked.
Carr responded: “I think any licensee that operates on the public airwaves has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard, and that’s been the case for decades.”
Klobuchar asked Carr for his thoughts on comments made by President Trump on social media this week following the stabbing deaths of actor Rob Reiner and his wife.
“Senator, look, Democrats on this dais are accusing me of engaging in censorship, and now you’re trying to encourage me to police speech on the internet. I’m simply not going to do it,” Carr replied.
He continued: “Let’s step back. Broadcast TV is fundamentally different than any other forms of media, whether it’s cable or podcast or soapbox on the main street. There’s a public trustee model that Congress has set up.”
Carr deflected some of the Democrats’ criticism of his attempts to chill free speech. He said that Democrats in Congress previously wrote letters to cable companies pressuring them to drop Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax because they disagree with the political perspectives of those cable channels.
“We have jurisdiction with respect to the broadcast airwaves uniquely to ensure that their operations are in the public interest, and there’s very specific rules in broadcast hoaxes and news distortion,” he said.
Sen. Edward Markey charged the chairman with turning the FCC into the “Federal Censorship Commission.” Markey said Carr should resign.
“Chairman Carr, you are not reinvigorating the public interest standard; you are weaponizing the public interest standard. That is what the Carr FCC is doing every single day.”
Markey also discussed the FCC’s investigation of a San Francisco radio station that reported on an ICE raid in real time on air. KCBS(AM) aired an immigration enforcement report; Carr had accused KCBS of failing to operate in the public interest and opened an inquiry.
A recent report in the L.A. Times said station staffers later claimed Carr’s complaints eventually sparked changes to the station’s newsroom operations due to political pressure.
Carr testified: “Broadcasters understand perhaps for the first time in years that they’re going to be held accountable to the public interest, to broadcast hoaxes rules, to the news distortion policy. I think that’s a good thing.”
Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) debated Carr on whether the chairman considers the FCC an independent agency. “Senator, thanks for that question. I think there’s a test for this in the law, and the key portion of that test…” Carr said before being interrupted by the senator.
“Yes or no is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent?” he asked.
Carr: “The FCC’s not an independent agency formally speaking.”
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich) asked Carr about free speech for broadcasters.
“So this should be a pretty easy question. Do you think the FCC should protect free speech?” Peters asked.
Carr: “Yes.”
“Okay. So if you will not revoke licenses … you won’t revoke licenses or retaliate if they’re simply engaging in free speech?”
“Senator, first of all, the Supreme Court has expressly said there is no First Amendment right to an FCC license. And the Supreme Court has said that the FCC enforcing the public interest standard on licensees is not a violation of the First Amendment or censorship,” Carr replied.
Other topics were brought up during the meeting, including broadcast ownership rules that are the subject of the next scheduled quadrennial review. Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas urged the commission to change the ownership rules to enable local broadcasters to compete with today’s media giants.
“Local broadcasters are hugely important and provide the news, the weather, the sports; and we need to make certain that their viability is enhanced by ownership rules that the commission has talked about and considering,” Moran said.
Carr has repeatedly indicated strong support for broadcast ownership reform but didn’t offer an opinion during the oversight committee hearing.
Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, asked about Carr’s efforts to stem a new form of payola, what she called “show-ola” in which broadcast stations allegedly pressure artists to play their station events in exchange for airplay.
“They particularly like to couple this with threats of reduced airplay if the band or the artist cannot give them these free events,” Blackburn said.
Carr replied: “Historically, there’s been a law on the books that prevents radio stations from accepting or seeking unreported payment of money or any other compensation to influence airplay, the time that music is played on the station.
“One concern that you brought to my attention early on, including through a letter earlier this year, is that a lot of radio stations are holding music festivals, and the concern that’s been raised is that they are effectively pressuring musicians, that could be ones that are well off or ones that are just getting started, to perform for free under threat that they may suffer airplay on radio stations if they don’t do that. I think that’s a concern. We issued an enforcement advisory right after being aware of this from you, and we are going to be and are investigating some issues around this.”
This was the first Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing with all seated FCC commissioners present in more than five years, though the FCC normally has five, not three, members.
[[This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Radio World; More of their coverage of regulatory and business issues can be found here.]
