Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) sent a letter to cable and streaming companies on Monday questioning their decisions to host certain news networks. The letter linked content aired on certain channels to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. “Misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices, among other issues in our public discourse,” they wrote, singling out Newsmax, One America News Network (OANN) and Fox News for airing misinformation. “Right-wing media outlets, like Newsmax, One America News Network (OANN), and Fox News all aired misinformation about the November 2020 elections,” McNerney and Eshoo wrote. “These same networks also have been key vectors of spreading misinformation related to the pandemic.”
In response to the allegations, Fox News Media said in a statement, “As the most watched cable news channel throughout 2020, FOX News Media provided millions of Americans with in-depth reporting, breaking news coverage and clear opinion. For individual members of Congress to highlight political speech they do not like and demand cable distributors engage in viewpoint discrimination sets a terrible precedent.” Republicans also responded to the letters, saying they were calling to limit free speech rights and marked a departure from First Amendment norms. The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the Committee on Energy and Commerce is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on disinformation and extremism in media. Newsmax issued a statement Monday decrying what the company said was an attack on the First Amendment. And Newsmax noted that the Eshoo-McNerney letter makes several false or misleading characterizations of its coverage.
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