The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr (R), will overturn an 11th hour decision by the outgoing Democrat chair - and will reinstate three complaints against major media outlets related to bias in the 2024 US election.
Last week, outgoing Chair Jessica Rosenworcel (D) tossed four pending petitions against ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX News - which she said sought "to curtail freedom of the press."
And by 'freedom of the press,' Rosenworcel meant the freedom to deceptively edit a Kamala Harris '60 Minutes' interview to make her appear fit for office, freedom to help Harris in her debate against Trump, and freedom to prop Harris up with a (not funny) appearance on 'Saturday Night Live.'
According to the report, Carr will reinstate the claims against ABC, NBC and CBS - filed by the Center of American Rights - but not the one against Fox, which sought to block Fox Corp's local Philadelphia division's renewal of their license over claims of 2020 election fraud.
A source told Newsmax that Carr will put the ABC, NBC, and CBS cases back into pending or active status. The move means the complaints against the three networks can be adjudicated on their merits.
The source added that Rosenworcel could have prevented the FCC from reversing course had she acted a few weeks earlier. That could have prevented Carr from overturning his predecessor's decision. -Newsmax
In other FCC news, Carr is ready to rock on Trump's executive order ki9lling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the federal government.
In a post on X, Carr said he's "ending the FCC's promotion of DEI and will focus our work on competently carrying out the FCC's statutory mission," adding that the agency will no longer promote DEI in their strategic plans.
Yesterday, President Trump issued an Executive Order to end the government’s promotion of DEI.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) January 21, 2025
Today, as Chairman of the FCC, I am ending the FCC’s promotion of DEI and will focus our work on competently carrying out the FCC’s statutory mission. pic.twitter.com/jH8uhpdz12
In a statement released by the FEC, Carr explained that "Promoting invidious forms of discrimination runs contrary to the Communications Act and deprives Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law.
"It also represents a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer resources. Nonetheless, the FCC joined other private and public sector institutions in promoting discriminatory DEI policies during the Biden administration. The FCC did so by embedding DEI in its strategic priorities, budget requests, advisory groups, rulemaking proceedings and many other components of its official work."
