When President Trump suggested that broadcast licenses should be challenged at the FCC because he disagreed with the broadcasters' editorial judgments, I was quick to condemn Trump's suggestion. As I said in October 2017, "Absent clear evidence of deliberate falsification or conscious, willful distortion of the news by media outlets, for Trump to urge challenges to FCC licenses because of disagreements over editorial decisions threatens to chill the First Amendment rights of the media." For some House Democrats now to suggest that certain cable and satellite operators shouldn't carry channels like Fox News, One America, Newsmax, and others because of what they claim is "misinformation" carried by the outlets is truly misguided and dangerous. If they continue down this road, and if they are successful in threatening media outlets to stop broadcasting speech they disfavor under the guise of regulating "misinformation," the First Amendment free speech rights of all will be seriously eroded. It should be obvious that a wide swath of speech that nowadays is labeled misinformation by those that wish to curtail it is lawful speech that falls within what should be the realm of legitimate public debate.
Almost all mainstream media outlets, journalists, and "consumer" organizations, most especially left-leaning ones, were lightening quick to condemn President Trump's remarks regarding media coverage. Wouldn't it be nice if they were as quick and vocal condemning the House Democrats' proposal? Not only nice - but important.
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