Trump wants to revoke the licenses of TV stations that refused to air his address
Several American television networks decided not to air U.S. President Donald Trump’s prime-time address regarding his claims of alleged election fraud. In response, he threatened to revoke the broadcasters’ licenses.
U.S. news channels are not required to air the president’s address live. The final decision on whether to broadcast it is made independently by media executives, based on the content of the speech.
When Trump delivered a prime-time speech in April regarding the war with Iran, all television networks broadcast it live. This time, however, ABC and NBC refused to broadcast the speech about China’s interference in the 2020 election live on television (though they did air it on their streaming platforms).
The U.S. president claimed that China had collaborated with some American journalists to discredit him. He said the media knew the topic he would be discussing and “didn’t like” it.
“They and other media representatives are part of a conspiracy. They want to continue this fraud for some reason. They want it to go on. They want to protect the radical left. Such fraud should result in the revocation of their licenses,” the White House chief added.
Despite Trump’s threats, CBS News went ahead and aired the U.S. president’s speech, albeit with a delay. Before airing the speech, CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil stated that much of what Trump had said about the security of the U.S. election was untrue.
“There is an argument that it is irresponsible to air the president’s speech tonight. But this speech will be delivered. It will be news. And it is our job to cover this news,” Dokupil said.
CBS concluded its coverage about five minutes before Trump finished. Dokupil then began fact-checking Trump’s claims about Chinese interference in the 2020 election.
It is worth noting that in the U.S., television stations must hold government licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has the legal authority to revoke a broadcast license or deny its renewal. However, any such move would likely result in a legal challenge.
Cable networks, on the other hand, do not hold broadcasting licenses from the FCC. For this reason, for example, CNN did not air the speech live. Fox News, however, did air it, and MS Now broadcast portions of Trump’s speech.
Source: The New York Post
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