By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The head of the Federal Communications Commission urged U.S. broadcasters on Friday to air “patriotic, pro-America content” to mark this year’s 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr suggested broadcasters could voluntarily take part in the semiquincentennial celebrations by running nonpartisan public service announcements, short segments, or full specials promoting civic education and American history.
He said they could also choose to start each day’s broadcast with “The Star-Spangled Banner” or the Pledge of Allegiance, and could air music by major American composers.
The announcement comes as the Trump-led FCC has repeatedly clashed with broadcast networks.
NBC, Fox, CBS and ABC did not immediately comment.
NO MORE NATIONAL ANTHEM
Until the 1980s, many local affiliates would play the national anthem when they signed off programming for the day, a practice made obsolete by round-the-clock broadcasting.
Carr, who was named FCC chair by President Donald Trump in January 2025, initiated a practice of saying the Pledge of Allegiance – a patriotic oath – before the FCC’s monthly meetings.
Carr said he hoped broadcasters would pledge to show civics programs to fulfill “their public interest mandate to serve the needs and interests of their local communities as America’s 250th birthday celebration marches on.”
COMPLAINTS AGAINST BROADCASTERS
This week, Carr confirmed that the FCC is investigating ABC’s “The View” over whether it violated equal time rules when it aired an interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. CBS late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert said lawyers for CBS had barred him from airing an interview with Talarico.
The FCC said last month that daytime and late-night TV talk shows are no longer considered “bona fide” news programs that are exempt from requirements to give equal air time to views of opposing candidates. For decades talk shows had been exempt from those rules.
Carr has repeatedly criticised the news media and suggested that broadcast networks need significant reforms.
In January, he reinstated complaints about a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, how ABC News moderated the pre-election televised debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Helen Popper)
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