The Colorado Sun: Public media leaders in Colorado expressed concern about the possible impact of a new federal investigation launched by the Trump administration.
Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr sent a letter to the heads of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service on Jan. 29 notifying them that the agency’s Enforcement Bureau is investigating the programming of their roughly 1,500 member stations for allegedly running commercial advertisements. The FCC does not regulate NPR or PBS, but does regulate the broadcasting licenses of individual stations that use public airwaves to transmit radio and television programming.
Federal law prohibits public media outlets from airing commercials that ask audiences to buy, sell, or lease products and services from for-profit businesses. Instead, these outlets air what’s known as corporate underwriting announcements. An underwriting announcement sounds like, “Support for this station is provided by …”
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