Judges Consider Effort To Force FCC Action On News Distortion Policy
A group of former FCC chairs and commissioners is urging the agency to repeal its news distortion policy, claiming it has been misused to control news content. An appellate court has given the FCC 30 days to respond to this request. The current FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has faced criticism for his handling of the policy, which some argue has been weaponized against certain viewpoints.
- ▪Former FCC chairs and commissioners petitioned to repeal the news distortion policy last November.
- ▪A three-judge panel has ordered the FCC to respond to the petition within 30 days.
- ▪The petitioners argue that the policy has been used to suppress viewpoints the government disfavors.
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| Original publisher | Deadline |
| Canonical URL | https://deadline.com/2026/05/fcc-news-distortion-policy-brendan-carr-1236917380/ |
| Publication time | Wed, 20 May 2026 23:08:05 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-20T23:35:03.124Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-20T23:35:03.124Z |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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Brendan Carr Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images After a group of former FCC chairs and commissioners petitioned the agency to repeal its news distortion policy last November, the current chairman Brendan Carr never acted on it. Last month, they asked an appellate court to compel him to do so. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel gave the FCC 30 days to respond to that effort, known in legalese as a writ of mandamus. The former chairs and commissioners, joined with the Radio and Television Digital News Association, contend that Carr has used the news distortion policy “as a weapon to control news content and suppress viewpoints the government disfavors.” blogherads.adq.push(function () { blogherads .defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-dsk-tab-mid-article1-uid0' ) .setTargeting( 'pos',…
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