Seven former FCC chairs and commissioners, including five Republicans, have filed a petition urging the agency to immediately rescind its decades-old "news distortion policy." The group argues the rule—dating back to 1949—violates First Amendment protections by enabling government censorship of broadcast news, chilling free speech, and inviting partisan abuse.
This urgent call comes amid recent threats by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against major networks like ABC and CBS for content critical of President Donald Trump, highlighting the policy's weaponization in today's polarized media landscape.
The petition, submitted by advocacy groups Protect Democracy and TechFreedom alongside consumer advocates Gigi Sohn and Andrew Jay Schwartzman, unites officials who served from 1981 to 2017 despite their differing views on other issues.
Signatories include former FCC Chair Mark Fowler (R, 1981-1987), who stated, "The news distortion policy allows the government to threaten censorship of speech it doesn’t like; it cannot stand." 
Mark Fowler
Other commissioners listed are Andrew Barrett, Rachelle Chong, Ervin Duggan, Dennis Patrick, and Alfred Sikes, plus senior staffers Christopher Wright, Kathryn Brown, Jerald Fritz, and Peter Pitsch.
At its core, the policy empowers the FCC to investigate and potentially revoke broadcast licenses for "willfully distorting" news through fabrication, staging, or deliberate misrepresentation—powers rooted in the Communications Act's public interest standards. However, the petitioners contend it's obsolete in a digital era with abundant media sources and conflicts with landmark Supreme Court rulings like CBS v. Democratic National Committee (1973), which barred government interference in editorial judgments. They warn it imposes the FCC's subjective "vision of what presentation of the news is correct," directly contradicting First Amendment prohibitions on viewpoint discrimination.