FCC commissioner Brendan Carr—President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the regulator’s chair in the new administration—is signaling that the agency may consider a complaint against CBS’s 60 Minutes for news bias as part of the FCC’s review of the proposed Skydance-Paramount Global deal.
While the deal has not prompted much regulatory scrutiny, the FCC would have to approve the transfer of CBS-owned stations as part of its review of the deal in which Skydance would acquire Paramount, the broadcast network’s parent company.
Trump has complained repeatedly about the way CBS edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and has filed a lawsuit against the network.
Carr has also repeated those complaints and asked CBS to release a transcript.
“There's also a news distortion complaint at the FCC still, having to do with CBS, and CBS as a transaction before the FCC,” Carr said in an interview with Fox News Channel. “And I’m pretty confident that that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that's likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.”
During the interview Carr argued, “Jeff Bezos just recently did an op-ed where he said that Americans don’t trust the news media. He said now they’re the least trusted of all. And I think he's speaking a lot of truth there. So I think the status quo, particularly when it comes to legacy media, needs to change.”
With regard to broadcasters, Carr said: “There’s a lot the FCC can do. Broadcasters are differently situated than other speakers. They get free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves. And they’re licensed by the FCC. And the exchange for that is they have to serve the public interest. I think it's important that we take another look at that and we reinvigorate it."
Carr also posted on X that he would be seriously examining the public interest obligations of broadcasters, The Daily Beast has reported.
Broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource—our airwaves. In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest.When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation.November 18, 2024
“Broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource—our airwaves,“ Carr said in the post. ”In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation."
Carr has repeatedly said he has no intention of censoring news operations or restricting free speech, but critics have said the recent comments could provide a pretext for using perceived bias in news coverage of the Trump administration during the broadcast-license renewals.
