Top Republican Compares House Democrats’ Attempt to Deplatform Fox News With CCP Censorship

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) listens during a media briefing in Washington on March 5, 2014. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The top Republican House member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday criticized an attempt by House Democrats to pressure television carriers to deplatform Fox News and two conservative cable news channels.

Ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) expressed her concerns regarding letters sent by two Democratic members on the panel to 12 cable, satellite, and streaming companies. The letter accused the companies of not taking steps to combat the spread of what the Democrats said was “misinformation.” They demanded answers to why carriers were offering their services to these television outlets.

“Elected officials using their platform to pressure private companies to censor media outlets they disagree with—that sounds a lot like actions from the Chinese Communist Party, not duly-elected representatives of the United States Congress,” McMorris Rodgers said during a committee hearing on disinformation and extremism in the media.

“Here we cherish free speech and a free independent press. We believe in dialogue and in the battle of ideas. Rather than censor and silence constitutionally protected speech, the answer is more speech. That’s the American way.”

She reminded the committee that it was their duty to uphold the First Amendment.

“It’s foundational to our personal rights and liberties. So, we should all be troubled today on what appears to be an attack on the First Amendment by elected officials to coerce private companies to censor political speech,” she said.

The letters were sent by Reps. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), who claim that right-leaning Fox, Newsmax, and One America News had spread “misinformation” after the November 2020 elections and about COVID-19.

They asked carriers to provide details on what moral or ethical principles they apply in deciding which channels to carry, how many subscribers tuned into the networks in the weeks preceding the presidential election, and whether they’ve taken adverse actions against any channel in the wake of the election or the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

In separate statements to The Epoch Times, spokespeople from the three news outlets decried the lawmakers’ conduct. The spokesperson for Fox News said that the lawmakers’ actions set “a terrible precedent.”

Meanwhile, One America News President Charles Herring told The Epoch Times that “when government officials want to silence media, especially media that opposes their false narratives, it’s nothing short of an attack on our democracy and freedom of press.”