President Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Brendan Carr, has announced that henceforth no broadcaster is allowed to promote "fake polls" the way he claims they have been over the past few weeks.
In a post on X, Carr announced, "Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these Polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis."
Carr claimed that his department is taking the issue "seriously" because broadcasters are "prohibited by the terms of their federal licenses from engaging in News Distortion or promoting Broadcast Hoaxes."
It's an ironic shift, as when President Joe Biden's administration attempted to start a Disinformation Governance Board that would address false information as it pertains to national security. Republicans called it "censorship" and alleged it was the same as the "Ministry of Truth" in George Orwell’s book 1984.
"Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes by airing Polls that would violate their regulatory obligations," Carr added. "If broadcasters believe they should provide their viewers with additional context and information about Polls they have covered, they can now take those actions consistent with FCC regulations."
Writer Elizabeth Grattan explained, "Broadcast Hoax literally has NOTHING to do with this and News Distortion is defunct."
According to the U.S. code and federal regulations website, the rule is a narrow prohibition on knowingly broadcasting "false information concerning a crime or a catastrophe..." It adds that they cannot air a "broadcast of the information [if it] does in fact directly cause substantial public harm."
"For purposes of this rule, 'public harm' must begin immediately, and cause direct and actual damage to property or to the health or safety of the general public, or diversion of law enforcement or other public health and safety authorities from their duties," the code reads. "The public harm will be deemed foreseeable if the licensee could expect with a significant degree of certainty that public harm would occur. A 'crime' is any act or omission that makes the offender subject to criminal punishment by law. A 'catastrophe' is a disaster or imminent disaster involving violent or sudden event affecting the public."
Some noted that Carr might be setting a trap that conservative outlets could eventually step into. Most polls show that the president has experienced a significant increase in disapproval. So, any outlets reporting contrary poll results would violate the Trump administration's new rule. It also lends legitimacy to reports about Trump's failing popularity.
"So they should definitely stop airing all of Trump's false claims of election rigging?" asked the Law Times Daily.
"Since when has it become illegal to tell the American people the truth? Trump [is] a failed president," said Marie Blanchard, a retired Justice Department employee.
"This is what happens when you put a political operative in a position of responsibility," mocked Jason Gordon.
Another person asked Carr, "Did Trump cry to you about the polls? Maybe just tell them what numbers he wants them to use[,] make it easy."
Recent polls shared by Fox News are unflattering to Trump. While the Fox News opinion division is known for its conservative and pro-Trump, the polling is consistent in keeping with other independent polling, as one Los Angeles Times report explained.
Another observer recalled testimony from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who said that he paid the tech firm Red Finch Solutions to manipulate online polls in favor of Trump during the 2016 election.
"'If the polls say we are losing, the polls are fake. If we lose the election, the election was rigged,'" cited attorney and writer Robin DesCamp. "Truly the words of confident and competent civil servants."
NBC News threats reporter Kevin Collier commented, "In any other admin, this would probably be the most outrageous official statement ever made by a sitting FCC director: Strongly implying that the government forbids broadcast networks from reporting on the president's falling poll numbers. (Sorry to paste from twitter but that's where he posts.)"
Media Matters deputy director of rapid response Andrew Lawrence quipped, "If these are the rules now, then I expect democrats to play by them when they next have power. my expectation is for either safeguards to be put in place to keep this from happening again or for dems to bring fox news and fascist media to heel using these same tactics."