from the free-speech-warriors-my-ass dept
Sycophants do sycophantic things, that much is known. But the level to which newly-minted FCC chairman Brendan Carr has voluntarily debased himself purely to achieve his current station is extraordinary. We knew during the campaign season that Carr was eager to be America’s chief censor of any content the Dear Leader disliked. That the same Dear Leader deigned to refer to Carr as a “free speech warrior” could normally be described as double-speak, except that such a description would imply that Donald Trump has read 1984 at some point and I have a very hard time believing that to be true, save perhaps as an instruction manual. But the actions Carr has taken since his vulgar elevation to chairman are both unsurprising and so obviously counter to the concept of freedom of speech and serving the public as to be laughable.
But should you need to see the hypocrisy starkly in action, not to mention how the far-right propaganda machine plans to serve the administration, you need only read about how Carr’s FCC is threatening one of the oldest radio stations in the country for reporting the news too specifically.
Let’s start with the headline from Fox News.
It’s hard to know where to begin with this bullshit. KCBS in San Francisco has been around forever in the radio world. The first time the station went on the air officially was in 1921. It’s one of the oldest radio stations in the country and, possibly, the world. And, yes, it was bought by Audacy a few years ago and, yes, Audacy is partially owned by the Soros Fund Management. Somehow all of that turned into KCBS being a “Soros-backed” station, I’m sure not at all because of Soros’ longstanding service as the far right’s Jewish boogeyman.
Now, the whole live locations thing of ICE raids and agents? Yeah, that absolutely happened. It’s called, you know, news.
On the January 26 edition of “KCBS Radio Weekend News,” it revealed specific information about undercover ICE agents who were “carrying out an operation on the east side of town.”
“The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, which is a community defense projecting system for immigrant communities against deportation threats, first report the activity on its platforms,” the host told listeners.
The “KCBS Radio Weekend News” host then revealed the specific make, color and model of several unmarked vehicles used in the operation. The station also revealed the exact locations of several ICE agents working in the area.
Let me see if I can summarize that while still clutching these pearls. Do you mean to tell me that a news radio station, in this year of our lord 2025, reported accurately on something that is absolutely of news value and included specifics that were observable by literally any member of the public? And that public information suddenly became worthy of a license inquiry simply by being broadcast over public airwaves?
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has already sent a formal Letter of Inquiry to the radio station as part of the FCC investigation. The Enforcement Bureau proceeding is inquiring whether the radio station–which is licensed to operate by the FCC–is violating the terms of their FCC license, which requires that they operate in the “public interest.” The formal Enforcement Bureau Letter notes that the ICE agents were operating at the time in an area known for violent gang activity.
Yeah, so the fuck what? I generally assume that law enforcement agents in large cities, including those at ICE, are regularly in locations where there is violent gang activity. That’s sort of the job, folks. And, again, how does that change that KCBS was reporting on the specifics identified by a third party of what is obviously a newsworthy story?
As for the “public interest” line, that’s laughable. Who gets to determine what is in the public interest? Certainly not the public, it seems, as I haven’t heard anything in this story that involves the FCC polling the public to gauge their interest. No, that will be left to Carr’s determination, who is nothing more than a proxy for Trump.
No more free speech talk from the right. That ship has sailed. The pretense has been laid aside. Fans of law enforcement might not like that a news station reported the news at a level of specificity that might, kinda, maybe put agents in a bit more danger. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still reporting the news, that it’s protected speech, and that this kind of bullying from the FCC is a very, very obvious violation of the First Amendment.
Carr knows all of this, of course. He just doesn’t care.
Filed Under: 1st amendment, brendan carr, fcc, free speech, ice, investigation, kcbs, public interest, reporting
Companies: audacy, kcbs, soros fund management
