Two California representatives spearheaded a letter calling on mass liberal cable, satellite and Big Tech companies they took donations from to censor Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network. The call to silence these outlets by Democrat representatives was wholly un-American.
The New York Times reported that the letter signed by Reps. Gerald McNerney (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) questioned the roles of “Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox [, Altice] … Roku, Amazon, Apple, Google and Hulu” on the alleged “spread of dangerous misinformation.” The letter reportedly asked: “‘Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, OANN and Newsmax on your platform both now and beyond the renewal date? If so, why?’” The letter accused that “‘the cable, satellite and over-the-top companies that disseminate these media outlets to American viewers have done nothing in response to the misinformation aired by these outlets.’”
Open Secrets records revealed that both Eshoo and McNerney have received PAC donations from many of the very companies they pressured in their letter during the 2020 electoral cycle.
The top donor to Eshoo amongst the companies listed was Big Tech search giant Google Inc., which gave $10,000 to the Congresswoman in the 2020 cycle. Eshoo also received PAC campaign cash from Verizon Communications ($6,000), Amazon.com ($5,000), Comcast Corp. ($5,000), Spectrum (Charter Communications) ($5,000), Dish Network ($5,000) and CNN’s parent company AT&T Inc. ($4,000).
The top donor for McNerney was Spectrum (Charter Communications), which gave $10,000 to the Congressman. McNerney also received PAC campaign cash from AT&T Inc. ($8,000), Comcast Corp. ($6,000), Google Inc. ($4,000), Verizon Communications ($4,000), Amazon.com ($2,000), Dish Network ($1,000) and Cox Enterprises ($1,000).
The fact that these companies donated to House members who are now looking to silence the voices of Fox News, OAN and Newsmax is the epitome of liberal censorship.
As Fox News reportedly said in a statement, “‘For individual members of Congress to highlight political speech they do not like and demand cable distributors engage in viewpoint discrimination sets a terrible precedent.’”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News (818-460-7477), CBS News (212-975-3247) and NBC News (212-664-6192) and demand that they report on the political contributions McNerney and Eshoo have received from the companies they want to silence conservatives. Further demand that the Big Three properly label what Eshoo and McNerney are doing as anti-free speech and wholly un-American.