Free Press Wants FCC to Target Broadcasters for COVID-19 Misinformation
The FCC should examine whether broadcasters are airing false and misleading information about COVID-19 and require broadcasters to “prominently disclose” when the information they air is “false or scientifically suspect,” including in news briefings by President Donald Trump, said Free…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Press in an emergency petition for inquiry Thursday. “When the president tells dangerous lies about a public health emergency, broadcasters have a choice: don’t air them, or put those lies in context with disclaimers noting that they may be untrue and are unverified.” The agency should require TV stations air disclosures “in writing in the lower third and orally” and radio outlets to “correct misinformation about COVID-19 in oral reporting after press conferences and immediately following other instances when false information airs,” the petition said. “This is a life or death issue.” The White House and FCC didn’t comment.