'Threats against free speech': FCC chair condemns Trump's call for CBS to lose license

The head of the Federal Communications Commission says former President Donald Trump's calls for CBS and other networks to have their licenses revoked are threats against free speech.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released the statement Thursday in response to a Trump request that CBS should have its license revoked in a Truth Social post. In the post, Trump accused CBS of "A FAKE NEWS SCAM" over its editing of an interview “60 Minutes” did with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Also Thursday, Trump brought up the "60 Minutes" interview during a speech in Detroit saying it would “go down as the single biggest scandal in broadcast history," Rolling Stone reported.

During a teaser clip for the interview shown Oct. 6 on "Face the Nation" when Bill Whitaker asks Harris about the U.S.-Israeli relationship, viewers see a different video response from the vice president than on the subsequent "60 Minutes" broadcast on Oct. 7.

Trump alleged CBS replaced the answer “in order to save her or, at least, make her look better” and the action amounted to election interference, he charged in his Truth Social post.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the controversy from USA TODAY.

The Trump campaign called for CBS to release the full interview unedited on Tuesday. "Why did ‘60 Minutes’ choose not to air Kamala's full word salad, and what else did they choose not to air?" Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel. "The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala's sit-down interview. … What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?"

The Harris campaign told Variety on Wednesday, “We do not control CBS’s production decisions and refer questions to CBS.”

CBS did not comment on the issue. Both interview segments remain available online.

It's just the latest charge by the former president against major broadcast networks. Last month, Trump said ABC should be punished for what he called the bias of the network's moderators during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.

Rosenworcel condemned Trump's criticisms of the press. “While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored,” she said in a statement Thursday.

“As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy," she said. "The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”

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Did CBS edit the '60 Minutes' interview with Vice President Harris?

Yes and it's standard procedure in news programming. TV news programs regularly edit interviews – as do other news outlets – to fit time and space constraints, said Mark Feldstein, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland.

“The question is whether the responses used are out of context or an unfair representation of what the interviewee said,” he told USA TODAY. “I don't see it here in this case: In both broadcasts, Harris gave ambiguously hedged boilerplate responses to the question; the only difference is which portion of her longer ambiguously hedged boilerplate responses were used in the different broadcasts.”

Added Feldstein, "I think at bottom this is really just more whining from Trump about how unfairly the mainstream media is treating him – and an attempt to justify why he ducked being interviewed himself by '60 Minutes'."

Trump did turn down an interview on the traditional "60 Minutes" pre-election program featuring the presidential candidates, CBS News reported, with one reported reason that the program would fact-check the former president.

Can the FCC revoke CBS’s broadcast license?

No. The FCC issues licenses for broadcast stations, not networks, Feldstein said. On the FCC website, it states the agency does not license “TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR, except if those entities are also station licensees.”

However, Trump’s “disturbing call to punish CBS” is important, Feldstein said. “It's yet another indication of Trump's contempt for freedom of the press, and the ways he would try to abuse his power if he's returned to the White House,” he said.

Earlier this year, Trump said CNN and NBC, “should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away," when the networks opted not to broadcast his live remarks after winning the Iowa caucuses, wrote Steve Benen, editor of MaddowBlog on MSNBC.com.

Back in 2017, then-FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who was appointed agency head by Trump, pushed back on Trump’s complaints that NBC should be punished for its coverage of his administration, The Washington Post reported.

“I believe in the First Amendment,” Pai said in 2017 after Trump suggested NBC should face consequences for critical coverage of his administration. “The FCC, under my leadership, will stand for the First Amendment,” the Post reported Pai saying at the time. “Under the law, the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.”

It’s a policy Rosenworcel has upheld, too.

After Trump's comments about ABC and the presidential debate, she said, “The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. … The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment.  Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FCC head: Trump call to revoke CBS, ABC licenses a free speech threat