Leading First Amendment Scholars and Litigators Call on FCC to End Unlawful ‘Jawboning’ and Censorship Campaign

A broad and multipartisan coalition of civil-society groups, leading First Amendment and media policy scholars and litigators called on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to stop using the “public interest” standard and “news distortion” rules as political weapons to silence viewpoints that President Donald Trump doesn't like. They detailed his many questionable attempts to censor and control the media for displeasing the president, calling the chairman’s threats “unlawful jawboning” in violation of the First Amendment. They urged the chairman to withdraw all pending threats against broadcasters and other media outlets.