Former FCC chairs urge agency to repeal policy invoked by Trump administration

A group of former FCC leaders has petitioned the agency to repeal the policy the Trump administration invoked in discussions surrounding Jimmy Kimmel.

A bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission leaders has petitioned the agency to repeal the policy the Trump administration invoked in discussions surrounding Jimmy Kimmel at ABC and in the investigation of "60 Minutes" at CBS.

The group — which includes five Republican and two Democratic former FCC commissioners, as well as several former senior staffers — calls for eliminating the agency’s long-standing “news distortion” policy.

The policy, according to the FCC’s website description, allows the agency to sanction broadcasters if “they have deliberately distorted a factual news report.”

The policy is not codified, but grew out of a standard used by the FCC to evaluate broadcasters. It was rarely invoked for decades until this year, when President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, cited it in several high-profile disputes with networks his agency regulates.

A representative for the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.