NJ Democrat pushing for de-platforming Fox News slammed by FCC chairman for violating the First Amendment

by Robert Walker

New Jersey Democrat Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. chairs the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce had acknowledged that he instructed the committee to write letters to twelve cable providers to ask them to remove media networks from their platform.  Members of the committee Pallone heads attempted to subvert the FCC and democracy in America by sending letters to request the removal of Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network.

Those letters were sent to AT&T, Verizon, Roku, Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Charter, Dish Network, Cox, Altice, and Disney’s Hulu services. They were sent by California Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee for which Pallone chairs.

In the last meeting of the committee, Pallone acknowledged that Congress shall pass no law limiting free speech, but decided to press on in his assault against the media and free speech.

Pallone said he fears journalists are conspiring to cover controversial topics and blamed those networks for fueling the fire of the U.S. Capitol incursion.


“This is the best hope to address one of the challenges facing our country,” he said on the topic of banning Fox News and other conservative media outlets from the airwaves.  “There is just so much at stake.”


“Today, two senior Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee selectively targeted a handful of news media outlets for their coverage of political events. By writing letters to the cable providers and other regulated entities that carry these news media outlets, the Democrats are sending a message that is as clear as it is troubling—these regulated entities will pay a price if the targeted newsrooms do not conform to Democrats’ preferred political narratives. This is a chilling transgression of the free speech rights that every media outlet in this country enjoys,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. “Debate on matters of public interest should be robust, uninhibited, and wide open. More speech is better than less. Yet the concerted effort by Democrats to drive political dissent from the public square represents a marked departure from these First Amendment norms. A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.”

Carr said that when Democrats used official letterhead to launch the inquiry they violated the very principles of Democracy in America.

“To the House Democrats that used their official letterhead to launch this inquiry, I would say this: Your demand to know the ‘moral principles that guide a private entity’s decision about what news to carry cannot be reconciled with bedrock principles of free speech and journalistic freedom,” Carr said. “I call on my FCC colleagues to join me in publicly denouncing this attempt to stifle political speech and independent news judgment.”

“We have seen these outlets downplay the seriousness of what happened,” Pallone said. “There are consequences to the constant airing of misinformation.”

Pallone blamed the networks for ‘encouraging’ the uprising at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, “This is a real threat to our nation.”

 

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