By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday urged Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to end investigations into CBS News and other media outlets.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Ed Markey, in a letter to Carr first reported by Reuters, urged the commission “to end its partisan attacks on CBS and cease interfering with the judgment of independent news organizations.”
The FCC is investigating allegations by President Donald Trump that CBS selectively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris for the “60 Minutes” program when she was running against Trump in the 2024 election campaign.
Trump also sued CBS, alleging the network deceptively edited the Harris interview in an effort to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party” in the election.
The letter from Schumer and Markey suggested that the commission was using a double standard, and cited Fox News’ editing of a June 2024 interview with then-candidate Trump over potential release of files regarding accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Fox’s “selective editing of the Trump interview led viewers to believe that Trump unqualifiedly supported the files’ release when in reality he equivocated,” the letter said, calling it a “politically based double standard.”
Fox, CBS and a spokesperson for Carr did not immediately comment.
In January, Carr reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” Harris interview, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney’s ABC News moderated the pre-election televised debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.
Carr did not reinstate a petition rejected by his predecessor that urged the commission not to renew the license of a Philadelphia Fox TV station.
“To be clear, the FCC should not investigate or pressure either CBS or Fox. Editorial discretion lies at the heart of press freedom and should not be subject to government interference,” Markey and Schumer wrote.
CBS parent company Paramount this month agreed to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit, with Paramount paying $16 million toward Trump’s future presidential library. The company needs FCC approval for its $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media.
CBS has urged Carr to dismiss the complaint, saying it did nothing wrong and that the complaint aims to turn “the FCC into a full-time censor of content.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and David Gregorio)
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