Donald Trump has threatened to shut down NBC and other American networks, saying that they peddle fake news.
"With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" Mr Trump wrote in a tweet.
Mr Trump's tweet came in response to a story written by NBC, which said that Mr Trump had sought to increase America's nuclear arsenal tenfold after taking a look at a briefing slide that showed stead reduction of the US nuclear arsenal since the 1960s. The story cited three officials who were reportedly in the room when Mr Trump made the comments.
"Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a 'tenfold' increase in our US nuclear arsenal," Mr Trump had tweeted before his threat. "Pure fiction, mad eup to demean. NBC = CNN!"
The President has regularly targeted news networks critical of him since January, when he gave a press conference as President-elect and shouted down a CNN reporter as "fake news". The term - which Mr Trump says he invented but had been used frequently before to describe the proliferation of stories written by anonymous bloggers to spread lies during the 2016 election - has since become one of his go-to insults when the media publishes critical coverage of the Trump administration.
The report about Mr Trump's nuclear arsenal said that the joint chiefs of staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson all pushed back on the nuclear ambitions, and that Mr Tillerson later called the President a "moron" following the meeting. Mr Tillerson last week refused to confirm that he had called the President that, and Mr Trump has said that those reports are fake news. During an interview, the President also said that he would have to compare IQ scores with Mr Tillerson if his secretary had actually made the remarks.
It isn't clear that Mr Trump would be able to easily revoke broadcast licenses for any of the major networks simply because he disagrees with the content they air, however.
Neither NBC or ABC released statement following the tweet, but others in government stepped in to comment on the issue. Democratic Senator Ed markey wrote to FCC chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday, urging him to resist requests from the President to revoke licenses because of coverage.
"It is inappropriate for the President to propose challenging broadcasters' licences because he disagrees with their coverage," that letter read. "The First Amendment is hte cornerstone of our democracy, and the news media plays an instrumental role in educating the American public and holding elected officials accountable. Any insinuation that elected officials could use the levers of government to control or sensor the news media would represent a startling degradation of the freedom of press."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees licensing, is an independent agency in the federal government, and isn't required to follow orders directly from the White House as would branches of the executive like the Department of Justice, for instance. While the commissioners of the FCC are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate, the agency's relative independence is there by design to push back on situations where someone in the executive branch would attempt to dampen the free speech protections provided to licensed broadcasters.
Mr Trump's comments came just one day after an American reporter was sentenced to prison in a Turkish court, where she was convicted of terrorist propaganda charges. That imprisonment was widely seen as highlighting the increased targeting of journalists in that country, which has been scrutinized for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government crackdown on media freedoms.
Responding to Mr Trump's musing about revoking licenses for broadcast networks critical of him, former US federal Prosecutor and frequent Trump critic Preet Bharara called the President childish.
It wasn't immediately clear if Mr Trump intended to threaten cable news networks as well, which are regulated differently than their broadcast counterparts.
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This guy loves trying to suppress free speech.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
The News Media is and has always been held to Laws and Standards since they began.
They must comply with the FCC.
They have dropped the ball by becoming a Political Opposition Party of their own and this is a no no.
Ever see those forms they post and ads they run stating if we, the general public, have any complaints we are to fill out the form and mail it to the FCC for review. The FCC then determines if the Station or Networks License is to be renewed?
Well guess who has a tall pile of complaints on top of their desk right now. Yep, the FCC.
Sounds like the snowflake in chief needs a safe space. Maybe he and Faux news can have a cry-a-thon to raise money for their wall they want so badly.
Sounds to me like the evil Progressives are about to watch another one of their bastions slip away into extinction.
As a matter of fact Portland, Swish, Perfect, OCD and others, you are fading so fast I can see through you even better today than I always have.
we're definitely fading. fading to the treeline so we can get a better view of the trainwreck coming from the oval.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Trump is doing a live Presser with Trudeau of Canada as they meet about NAFTA.
The first reporter to ask a question asked President Trump if the reports are true that he wants to increase our Nuclear Arsenal by 10 times?
The President smirked and said, "No, that is just another Fake News story put out by NBC News. We have so many Nuclear weapons now but I said I want them all to be in tip top shape."
He said, "Someone really should look into how the Press can get away with writing these Fake News stories."
You can't stump the Trump! I think he knows when he says it live, they can't not report what everyone has already seen.
Yep first comes policies concentrated on building a cohesive national majority, to unite “ethnic” white American's against foreigners, homosexuals, political critics and other minority groups.
Then comes shutting down those media outlets he can't control.
Next comes violently attacking and intimidated adversaries.
Then start showing false threats of foreign aggression to justify sweeping autocratic policies.
Then comes fascist dictatorship authoritarian rule.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
You mean like exposing secrets to the Russians in The White House like Trump did?
And there it is folks, Pitts next Lie!
Fake News! The President of the United States can declassify secret information at will when he deems it best for our Nation!
“The official who authorized the original classification, if that official is still serving in the same position and has original classification authority; (2) the originator’s current successor in function, if that individual has original classification authority; (3) a supervisory official of either the originator or his or her successor in function, if the supervisory official has original classification authority; or (4) officials delegated declassification authority in writing by the agency head or the senior agency official of the originating agency,” according to the order.
The president is the ultimate authority over the intelligence agencies that classify material, meaning Trump can choose to declassify material if he so chooses.
Yep first comes policies concentrated on building a cohesive national majority, to unite “ethnic” white American's against foreigners, homosexuals, political critics and other minority groups.
Then comes shutting down those media outlets he can't control.
Next comes violently attacking and intimidated adversaries.
Then start showing false threats of foreign aggression to justify sweeping autocratic policies.
Then comes fascist dictatorship authoritarian rule.
hahaha, you sound like the ones on the right saying Clinton was pushing saul alinsky model....get everyone on foodstamps, control the press, control free speech, etc ...oh wait that was actually happening....
Yeah, that means he didn't do anything wrong. Only in your world 40. You know, if he could work his brain half as fast as he could work his mouth, I may agree with you.
Trump is the perfect example of what happens when your mom doesn't teach you that God gave you two ears and two eyes, yet only one mouth for a reason.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
This would be great if he could get it done. The news outlets have stopped being news outlets for quite some time now. They have become propaganda machines. I welcome this kind of change.
When I was a kid we used to laugh at the Soviet Union and how their news agencies would spin news stories to fit their communist politics. Today our major news networks operate much like those old Soviet propaganda machines.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money." Margarat Thatcher
As long as both sides of the news media are held to the same standard and people don't pick and choose which side of the propaganda is okay and which isn't.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Why am I not surprised that 40 feels that suppressing the free press is a good idea? Supporting fascism. 40's Murica!
Forgetting about this current kerfuffle and speaking more generally now..
A licensed broadcaster should be able to report whatever they want, lie or truth.. and it's up to us to figure out which is which?
Look, it has always bothered me that major news outlets, that we should be able to rely on to be objective and provide us with news, actually openly endorse candidates.
The NY Times hasn't endorsed a republican for President since 1956. The Washington Post started doing endorsements in the 70s and has NEVER endorsed a Republican.. and folks wonder why people on the right don't think they are getting a fair shake in the media..
It cracks me up that people can look at stats like that and think we are actually getting unbiased news...
It’s cute that you think media just started doing that. I don’t miss being that ignorant. I learned that lesson about the media in my late teens.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I would say that if you are willing to look at the voter base in both New York and D.C., that their endorsements reflect the wishes and beliefs of their readers.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I would say that if you are willing to look at the voter base in both New York and D.C., that their endorsements reflect the wishes and beliefs of their readers.
And the same goes for FOXNews, doesn't make it right. If a news organization is openly endorsing candidates, openly opposing any policy, that my friend, is fake news.
I think if a news organization has a reason to question policy or politicians, they actually have a duty to question it/them. How else will we know what's going on in our country?
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I think if a news organization has a reason to question policy or politicians, they actually have a duty to question it/them. How else will we know what's going on in our country?
But as DC said, they should be allowed to report lies, so who will ever know the truth of what is going on.
the News Media like NBC has FAILED the American people in their duty to deliver non-biased fact focused news. Fox News and the rest of them are just as guilty as the left news outlets.
ALL of them should have their license pulled, and give opportunity for other non-biased news organizations that are not the mouth piece for some political party to take their place...William Randolph Hurst and Joseph Pulitzer would be sick to their stomach to see what the news has become today.
Sure, those guys were not perfect by any stretch and made some mistakes, but they were not the mouth piece of a political party set up to intentionally mislead people and make the public fight against each other all the time.
They all need to go as far as im concerned, let smaller organizations, that telling the truth is far more to their benefit then lies and politcal propaganda take their place. perhaps then the American people can be informed instead of lied to at every turn.
So you want to hold the media accountable for perceived lies, but not the actual president for ACTUAL lies?
Holy crap this country is screwed.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Trump has no power to do anything to any network. A compliant needs to be filed with the FCC. They will then investigate the matter, if NBC has credible sources for whatever they air, the compliant goes in the toilet with the rest of whatever Trump says.
Trump won't file the compliant. If he does and they find no cause for action, he will look like the fool he is.
Like I said, he's got no power in this matter.
For decades, the presidents (whoever that might have been) have been the butt of many jokes, mean spirited stories, some correct and some incorrect, Rumors etc...
But not once has any other president stood up and said, hey, they should have their license revoked. Mostly because no other president has been that freakin thin skinned and stupid.. This guy is a true American MORON.
When I say stupid, I mean really stupid. Had he consulted with someone in the "Know" he'd have found that each station has their own license, He'd have to have hundreds of licenses revoked not just ONE as he seems to think is the case.
The guy is a moron of the highest order.
Oh, and a Cry Baby.. What a WIMP. Dude, if you can't stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
The "HANDS UP DONT SHOOT"lie that was propped up by the national news and caused so much destruction of property and made a dangerous situation for so many innocent people and divided our country comes to mind.
Yes and NBC's recent lie about the President enlarging our Nuclear Forces by times 10 probably had Uncle Putin jumping out of bed, knocking the dancer to the floor, and calling his arms manufacturers to get ready to work overtime in response!
China's Xi may have given the order to launch on the US now before they have even more Nukes!
Stupid Press doesn't realize their constant efforts to "Get Trump" may end up getting us all!
You believe everything reported that doesn't suit your agenda is a lie. Everything that hasn't been proven as a fact to date you call a lie. Anything you disagree with is fake news. If you only used that same standard to judge FOX News you would want them shut down too.
It seems the only thing you wish to uphold in the Constitution is the 2nd amendment and anyone elses rights don't count.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I would say that if you are willing to look at the voter base in both New York and D.C., that their endorsements reflect the wishes and beliefs of their readers.
And I would bet that there are more subscribers to the Washington Post that live in Northern Virginia than there are in DC.. regardless, it is not their job to reflect the wishes and beliefs of their readers by endorsing candidates, it is their job to inform..
I think if a news organization has a reason to question policy or politicians, they actually have a duty to question it/them. How else will we know what's going on in our country?
Of course they have that duty, that is their #1 duty. But if they have endorsed candidate A over candidate B.. and then they begin writing about the policies, how do we know we are getting something close to unbiased in those articles?
If I issued a statement saying that I like Swish more than you.. then through my posts I was critical of almost everything you said and supportive of almost everything he said, would you honestly think I was being objective?
And you don't feel that they do? You don't believe they use what they deem as reliable sources for their articles?
Now don't get me wrong. Not every story you print will be correct. Sources will be wrong sometimes. And you do realize that almost, if not every newspaper in the nation endorses a candidate. I find it rather disingenuous that people wish to point the finger in one direction when this exact same thing happens in the other direction.
I don't hear people clamoring about FOX News or right wing publications. And neither did Trump.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
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