Three senators sent a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington Wednesday about the “weaponization” of the commission, including Carr’s direction that the commission’s Enforcement Bureau open an investigation into NPR and PBS member stations.
The letter was from Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The letter also cited the commission reinstating complaints involving ABC, CBS and NBC.
“Taken together, these efforts appear politically motivated and designed to punish, censor or intimidate members of the free press based on political disagreement with editorial choices,” the letter said. “This weaponization of the FCC is unacceptable. We urge you to immediately cease such conduct and respect the First Amendment.”
In a Jan. 29 letter to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger, Carr said he had asked the Enforcement Bureau to investigate NPR and PBS underwriting across their member stations. He wrote in the letter that it was possible NPR and PBS member stations air announcements that “cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”
Carr also said he planned to share his letter with members of Congress as they debate tax-based funding for NPR and PBS programming and that he did “not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”
The three senators said that Carr’s letter did not cite a complaint or evidence motivating the investigation and also pointed out Carr went “out of his way to encourage Congress to defund NPR and PBS, a partisan political goal of congressional Republicans that is outside the FCC’s jurisdiction.”
“Rather than pursuing an objective, evidence-based investigation, this Carr-driven FCC inquiry seems designed to intimidate public broadcasters that our communities have relied on for decades to provide essential education, public safety, civic leadership, news, information and community programming to all Americans,” the Senators said in their letter. “This abuse of the FCC’s enforcement tools for partisan political ends — less than two weeks into Chairman Carr’s tenure as head of the Commission — is deeply alarming.”
Both NPR and PBS issued statements following Carr’s letter last month.
“We work diligently to comply with the FCC’s underwriting regulations and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that to the Commission,” PBS’ statement said.
The statement from NPR’s Maher said the network’s programming and underwriting complies with FCC guidelines. Member stations are expected to be in compliance, she added.
“We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules,” Maher said.