Trump’s war on free speech doesn’t just affect Democrats 

Normally, I’m a big critic of President Trump’s, but you’ve got to give him credit for taking a robust stand for media accuracy, demanding that Kristen Welker be punished by the Federal Communications Commission for saying that Trump’s primary endorsements had yielded “some mixed results.”

The president didn’t pull any punches. “How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? … Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. … The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously.” 

Carr can do it, too. There is an FCC policy that prohibits “news distortion” in over-the-air broadcasts. That policy has been around for more than 50 years, but was seldom invoked until Trump and Carr decided to revive and strengthen it. 

There is almost no case law on this policy. And even in its original form, it is fairly dubious, First Amendment-wise. So it is important that Trump and Carr do whatever they can to get this policy well-established while they have the chance. 

That’s all the more true since, in the past, this rule has been narrowly construed. Since the Reagan administration, the FCC invoked it just one time, when NBC rigged some gas tanks to explode so they’d get better footage for an investigative news segment. 

Trump’s new “unfairness doctrine” goes well beyond........

© The Hill