West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is urging cable, satellite, and streaming companies to reject calls by Democratic lawmakers pushing for the censorship of news outlets, including Newsmax.
“My colleagues and I will not allow collusive anticompetitive activities to run wild, especially when the consequences mean that millions of Americans are deprived of diverse political content they wish to enjoy — content that lies at the heart of political discourse in America,” Morrisey wrote in a letter to 12 cable, satellite and streaming companies questioned by lawmakers on why they had “done nothing” to counter bigotry, disinformation and hate speech being circulated by outlets like OANN, Newsmax and Fox News.
“Nearly half of Americans get their news primarily from TV,” Representatives Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., wrote Monday in a series of letters to the CEOs of 12 cable and streaming TV companies.
“However, not all TV news sources are the same. Some purported news outlets have long been misinformation rumor mills and conspiracy theory hotbeds that produce content that leads to real harm.”
Eshoo and McNerney, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, also noted that carrying those channels poses a direct threat to public health.
“A media watchdog found over 250 cases of COVID-19 misinformation on Fox News in just one five-day period, and economists demonstrated that Fox News had a demonstrable impact on non-compliance with public health guidelines,” the lawmakers wrote.
Morrisey in his letter said the letter contained “highly intrusive information requests, thinly-veiled threats, and a plea that companies consider cutting off access of millions of Americans to three conservative news channels that these members dislike” and urged the companies to “not bow down to their approach.”
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