FCC Affirms First Amendment By Denying Petition Seeking To Suppress Coverage Of White House Coronavirus Task Force News Conferences

The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau wholly rejected a petition by Free Press demanding a government investigation into broadcasters that have aired statements by the President of the United States during White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings and related commentary regarding the coronavirus pandemic by other on-air personalities. The letter order notes that Free Press’ petition seeks remedies that would dangerously curtail the freedom of the press embodied in the First Amendment and misconstrues the FCC’s rules. The decision also makes clear that the FCC will neither act as a roving arbiter of broadcasters’ editorial judgments nor discourage them from airing breaking news events involving government officials in the midst of the current global pandemic.

In short, the FCC will not second-guess broadcasters (much less deploy the formal investigative power of the state against them) that are serving a critical function in providing the public comprehensive coverage of the current public health crisis and the government’s response. The FCC leaves to the press its time-honored and constitutionally protected role in testing the claims made by our political leaders—as well as those made by national advocacy organizations.