{"id":1860,"date":"2026-05-27T14:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:35:15","slug":"editorial-fcc-content-regulation-raises-free-speech-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1860","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: FCC content regulation raises free speech issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration has made no bones about its frustration with the coverage it receives from various media outlets. And it\u2019s true that many in the press haven\u2019t been subtle about their discomfort with policies pursued by the White House.<\/p>\n

Read more Campaign poll shows Wasserman Schultz viewed favorably by Black voters, leading primary matchup<\/a><\/p>\n

But it would be prudent for President Donald Trump and those who serve him to remember the value of the First Amendment and to understand that, in the vast majority of efforts intended to silence the \u201copposition,\u201d the White House is on shaky legal ground, to say the least.<\/p>\n

The latest dust-up involves ABC News and \u201cThe View.\u201d In February, the FCC \u2014 doing the bidding of the administration against a show that relishes piling on Trump \u2014 said it was investigating whether the talk show had violated equal time rules for interviews with candidates. Agency officials also said they may revoke the exemption for news shows now granted daytime and late-night talk shows.<\/p>\n

This is all in keeping with Trump\u2019s repeated efforts to threaten the broadcast licenses of over-the-air TV stations and networks that provoke his ire. When late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made remarks about the death of the late Charlie Kirk, direct threats led ABC to suspend Kimmel for nearly a week. Last week, Stephen Colbert\u2019s\u00a0 late night show shut down permanently, with many credible observers\u00a0 pointing out evidence that Trump and top aides demanded Colbert\u2019s head. This impression was underscored by a wretched, AI-generated video posted by Trump\u2019s official account on X.com that depicts a fake Trump grabbing and assaulting Colbert before thowing \u201chim\u201d into a garbage bin, after which Trump appears to dance to \u201cYMCA\u201d by the Village People.<\/p>\n

On one hand, it\u2019s silly and surreal. But on a far more serious level, it\u2019s an unfortunate intimidation tactic intended to undermine free speech protections, and it highlights the need to reform an antiquated agency and its antiquated rules that date back to the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

Efforts to use the FCC to control discourse is a bipartisan tradition that dates back decades. Democrats for years pondered using regulatory pressure to silence purveyors of right-wing talk radio, including the late Rush Limbaugh\u00a0 (though they never were foolish enough to carry those plans to fruition.)<\/p>\n

Auring the pandemic, the Biden administration eagerly sought to control \u201cmisinformation,\u201d at times a euphemism for opposing viewpoints.<\/p>\n

Read more UCF received nearly $20 million of revenue from Big 12 in second season<\/a><\/p>\n

To be fair, at other times it was just flat-out misinformation. Praise the Lord and pass the ivermectin.<\/p>\n

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Politicians \u2014 left, right or in between \u2014 have no business using the power of the state to suppress free and open debate. A bad idea doesn\u2019t become good simply because your side adopts it.<\/p>\n

The media landscape has changed drastically since the creation of the FCC in 1934. The idea that broadcasters on radio and network television should have different free speech rights than cable or internet providers and newspapers because the public \u201cowns\u201d the airwaves is a relic of the past. Today\u2019s FCC should focus on maintaining spectrum rights for broadcasters rather than regulating content under the guise of \u201cfairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such interventions inevitably run afoul of the First Amendment. In response to the FCC\u2019s move, ABC executives have fought back, arguing that the agency\u2019s actions are unconstitutional and \u201cthreaten to upend decades of settled law and \u200bpractice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to \u2018The View\u2019 and more broadly.\u201d And they\u2019ll almost certainly prevail in court.<\/p>\n

This editorial was adapted from one that originally appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Lightning risk is about to ramp up in Florida. Here\u2019s how to stay safe.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Trump administration has made no bones about its frustration with the coverage it receives from various media outlets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nEditorial: FCC content regulation raises free speech issues - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1860\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editorial: FCC content regulation raises free speech issues - 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