Ajit Pai refuses Democrats’ request to revoke Sinclair broadcast licenses

Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speaks to the media after the vote to repeal net neutrality rules on December 14, 2017. (credit: Getty Images | Alex Wong )

Democratic lawmakers yesterday followed in President Trump's footsteps by asking the Federal Communications Commission to consider revoking licenses from a broadcaster.

While Trump called for the FCC to consider revoking NBC licenses because of "fake news" in October 2017, Senate Democrats asked Pai yesterday to consider revoking licenses from the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai shot the request down, telling Democrats that he will stand up for First Amendment press freedoms and that the FCC doesn't have the authority to revoke licenses based on the content of newscasts. Pai said much the same after Trump made his statement regarding NBC-but there were some notable differences between Pai's response to the Trump incident and this week's dispute with Democrats.

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