Tom Wheeler to Ajit Pai: “Why the silence” about Trump’s media threats?

Enlarge / Tom Wheeler, when he was Federal Communications Commission Chairman, at left, listens to then-FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai testify before the House Judiciary Committee about Internet regulation on March 25, 2015. President Donald Trump promoted Pai to chairman to succeed Wheeler. (credit: Chip Somodvellia/Getty Images)

Tom Wheeler, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, implored his successor, Ajit Pai, to say something publicly about President Donald Trump's threats to take NBC and other networks off the air because of their news coverage of the chief executive.

"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!" Trump tweeted on Wednesday. He later follow-up with another tweet: "Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!"

Pai, who Trump appointed as FCC chariman, has remained silent as have his fellow Republicans on the regulatory agency. In a Friday essay on the Brookings Institution blog, Wheeler echoed a growing chorus of lawmakers, media organizations (PDF), and others calling for Pai and other GOP commissioners to end their two-day silence on the First Amendment issue.

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