FCC Chairman Carr, Democratic Rep. Matsui Spar on Social Media over TV Equal Time Guidance
Carr: ‘Congress made the decision to prevent covered broadcast TV programs from being used to advance certain partisan political purposes.’
Social: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Rep. Doris Matsui, a California Democrat, sparred on social media after the FCC issued new equal time guidance for TV broadcasters. Matsui took the first swipe, blasting the FCC for reminding left-wing comics like Jimmy Kimmel and Joy Behar that they need to offer interview time to GOP candidates if they turn their shows into megaphones for Democratic candidates in an effort to put a fat partisan thumb on the scale. “FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is pulling every dirty trick in the book to weaponize his agency against dissenting voices and attack our First Amendment rights. He is trying to mislead the American people and pressure talk shows to go easy on the Trump Administration,” Matsui said on her X feed Wednesday. Matsui, ranking Democrat on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, was responding to an FCC Media Bureau guidance issued Wednesday that programs like Jimmy Kimmel Live could not expect to rely on the FCC’s “bona fide news program” exemption if they interviewed a parade of Democratic office seekers without providing equal time and equal opportunities, meaning “comparable time and placement,” to opposing candidates. (More after paywall.)
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