Trump threatens ABC and NBC over negative coverage

By The Inspirer.

President Trump on Sunday accused news networks ABC and NBC of being “AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY” and said he would support the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revoking their broadcast licenses.

Why it matters: Trump has long publicly criticized media coverage of him. As Axios reporters Sara Fischer and Christine Wang note, his threats of regulatory scrutiny and private lawsuits against what he calls the “Fake News” have had tangible impacts.

His administration previously targeted public broadcasting, singled out the Associated Press, and launched probes into broadcasters and stations, raising concerns about political retribution. CBS parent company Paramount Global paid $16 million earlier this summer to settle a voter interference lawsuit Trump filed over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his rival, former Vice President Harris, and ABC reached a similar settlement in December.

The news: Trump claimed on Truth Social Sunday night that ABC and NBC give him “97% BAD STORIES.”

He added, “IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC.”

Trump did not specify who these “MANY” sources were but said he would be “totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!”

He also falsely claimed he had the highest poll numbers ever — “[e]xcept what is written and broadcast in the Fake News.”

Reality check: National broadcast networks themselves are not licensed by the FCC; their local affiliates are. Pulling licenses from local affiliates would be a highly complex process, Axios’ Sara Fischer notes.

Broader context: In another post, Trump said “[c]rooked ‘journalism'” should be “terminated,” writing that networks “should lose their licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG” for using “the most valuable airwaves.”

He questioned why “Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES” were not levied against the networks.

Earlier, Trump targeted ABC anchor Jonathan Karl personally, criticizing his hair as “absolutely terrible,” and threatened to investigate former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal after Christie appeared on This Week with Karl.

Trump wrote: “It’s amazing what bad ratings, on a failed television show that was forced to pay me $16,000,000, can do to one’s appearance!”

NBC and ABC did not immediately respond to Axios’ requests for comment.

Context: This is not the first time Trump has suggested networks should lose their broadcast licenses or that media companies should pay a “big price.”

Last year, then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel condemned Trump’s “threats against free speech,” noting that the “FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”

Ajit Pai, who led the Commission during Trump’s first term, similarly rejected the president’s threats in 2017, saying, “[u]nder 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.”