The nation’s top broadcast lobbying group says radio and TV stations cannot fulfill their “most sacred responsibility” to report to their communities if they fear government retribution.
National Association of Broadcasters President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt made his first comments about the controversy over remarks made by TV host Jimmy Kimmel about the death of Charlie Kirk and subsequent threatening comments made by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Posting to his blog, LeGeyt wrote, “Unfortunately, government pressure on media to cover events in a particular way is not new and it has come from both political parties.”
He said that during the Obama administration, “journalists decried the use of the Espionage Act to investigate reporters and demand their confidential sources,” while under the Biden administration, “reporters faced growing barriers to access, and local affiliate stations were targeted based on the actions of cable news networks.”
Without mentioning President Trump or Chairman Carr by name, LeGeyt continued: “Today, we continue to see veiled threats suggesting broadcasters should be penalized for airing content that is contrary to a particular point of view. These attempts were wrong then, and they are wrong now.”
He said the First Amendment to the Constitution makes clear that broadcasters, not the government, bear the responsibility for editorial decisions.
“Beyond the obvious constitutional issues that have been raised, there is another challenge: Broadcasters are already fighting for our future, facing extraordinary disruption in the media ecosystem from Big Tech.”
LeGeyt argued that if the very act of owning or transferring a broadcast license carries the risk of political interference, “it will drive investment further away from local stations at the very moment we need more resources to sustain local journalism.”
