Brendan Carr: Reporting on polls may violate broadcast license terms

“Brendan Carr is not the journalism police. And he is just about the least qualified person in the country to lecture the press about journalistic ethics. The tell is that literally every time he attacks the press, it’s because of reporting that was unfavorable to his boss, Donald Trump, whose gilded face he’s been known to wear as a lapel pin. Carr could care less if reporting is accurate, as long as it’s uncritical of Trump or apolitical altogether. His selective outrage is Exhibit A on why the Constitution does not allow partisans to regulate news content.

“News broadcasters have a First Amendment right to report polling data, even if it proves to be inaccurate, just like they have a First Amendment right to report on Carr and Trump’s own countless lies and distortions, even when they turn out to be inaccurate. FCC policies about hoaxes and distortions must be applied narrowly to avoid clashing with the Constitution, if they can be constitutionally applied at all. The law under which the FCC operates expressly prohibits censorship and meddling with free speech, as Carr himself used to regularly say before he traded in any integrity he had to hitch his wagon to Trump.”