President Donald Trump is calling for ABC and NBC to have their licenses revoked, accusing the two networks of producing unfavorable coverage of his administration at a rate of 97%.
“Despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History, ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES,” Trump posted on TruthSocial on Sunday. “IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC. I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!”
Just an hour after that post on Truth Social, Trump went after ABC and NBC again questioning why they were paying “Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES.”
“They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!!” Trump wrote. “Crooked “journalism” should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not issue licenses to networks, but rather the independent agency will issue eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations that are affiliates of the major networks.
Former FCC chairs Jessica Roseneworcel and Ajit Pai, who served under Trump’s first administration, have previously pushed back on Trump’s calls for networks to lose their license based upon the content, citing it violates first amendment rights.
However, the current FCC Brendan Carr has previously signaled support for Trump’s calls to revoke the license of major networks such as CBS, telling a reporter in May that its a “penalty” supported by the Communications Act.
“TV stations have a lot of trust, and so the agenda that I’m trying to run at the FCC is to empower those actual local television stations to serve the public interest,” Carr told CNBC. “What we’ve seen is that national news media, ABC, NBC, CBS, and they’re exercising more and more control over those local TV stations. I don’t think that’s a good thing for the country, so we’re trying to reverse it.”
In April, Trump called for CBS to lose its broadcast license over two 60 Minutes segments — one regarding the Ukraine war and the other on Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland — which Trump deemed said painted him in an unfair and negative light.
“They did not one, but TWO, major stories on ‘TRUMP,’ one having to do with Ukraine, which I say is a War that would never have happened if the 2020 Election had not been RIGGED, in other words, if I were President and, the other story was having to do with Greenland, casting our Country, as led by me, falsely, inaccurately, and fraudulently,” he continued.
Trump previously sued CBS News in October, alleging that its edit of a 60 Minutes episode with Vice President Kamala Harris was deceptive and intended to paint Harris in a favorable light.
