On October 11th , President Donald Trump tweeted that if NBC was going to continue being so mean to him , he could just have his subsidiary “ dispute their permit , ” adding that adversarial media was “ Bad for commonwealth ! ”
With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks , at what point is it appropriate to challenge their licence ? spoilt for country !
— Donald J. Trump ( @realDonaldTrump)October 11 , 2017
In a second tweet , the chairman take that “ electronic internet news has become so partisan , distorted and fake that permit must be take exception , and if appropriate , revoke , ” in what was apparently some very baffled reference to either thelong - defunct Fairness Doctrineor the still extant Equal Time principle .
connection newsworthiness has become so partisan , distorted and fake that licenses must be challenge and , if appropriate , revoked . Not fair to public !
— Donald J. Trump ( @realDonaldTrump)October 12 , 2017
The Fairness Doctrine was an Federal Communications Commission insurance policy need broadcaster air stuff relevant to the public interest and devote time to explaining opposing viewpoints — which has not been enforced for ten on First Amendment grounds . It did not need people to be squeamish to the president , though Trump ’s blatantly authoritarian call to restrict the broadcast rights of his opposite was met with uncomely quiet by FCC chairman Ajit Pai .
Pai , whose anti - last disinterest stance has make him the ire of most of the cyberspace , finally stood up to the president somewhat on Tuesday and said the FCC would not be following his orders , Ars Technica report . At a Mercatus Center telecommunication law league , Pai told the Wall Street Journal ’s Greg Ip he did not have that top executive :
I believe in the First Amendment . The FCC under my leadership will put up for the First Amendment . And under the law , the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a program post based on the content of a fussy newscast .
As Ars Technica noted , Democratic lawmakers and other free language groups had been pressuring Pai to say something about the affair since the original tweets on October 11th , and were not satisfied he merely restate the FCC ’s powers under law .
APolitico articlefrom Monday explained Pai may have felt like publicly responding to Trump would risk gravel the FCC bogged down in the White House ’s ever - spreadingswamp of feud . But the FCC is a nominally independent representation , and Pai does not report to the United States President . So depending on how good-hearted one wants to be , Pai ’s refusal to engage could be refusing to take Trump ’s bait , an attempt to avert being disorder from or weighing down his already controversial agenda , or something solely less savoury . Either way , it ’s not exactly encouraging .
Regardless , Pai never had the power to shut down NBC or any other web . The FCClicenses individual stations , not networks , and many of them are owned by massive media pudding stone which stand to benefit from business - friendly supervision regardless .
[ Ars Technica ]
Ajit PaiDonald TrumpTechnology
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