Senate Democrats press top media regulator Brendan Carr to back off ABC
A group of prominent Senate Democrats sent a letter on Thursday to Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned Federal Communications Commission chair, asking him to rescind the US media regulator’s order last week requiring ABC to apply early to renew its television licenses.The eight ABC-owned station licenses were not originally up for renewal until 2028 at the earliest and 2031 at the latest; now, the renewal requests must be filed by the end of May.Although Carr told reporters that the early license renewal request stemmed from an ongoing investigation into the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts of ABC’s parent company, Disney, the announcement came just a day after the president and his wife called on the network to fire Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night comedian, for a poorly timed joke.The letter called the early renewal demand an “extraordinary abuse of power” and an “unconstitutional abuse of the Commission’s powers”.“The campaign against Disney and its editorial decision-making, culminating in last week’s early-renewal order, is an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of the First Amendment,” lawmakers state in the letter led by Senators Edward J Markey, Chuck Schumer, Maria Cantwell and Ben Ray Luján.
Eight other senators also signed the letter.“Although the FCC has the authority to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest, it cannot serve as President Trump’s roving censor, threatening to revoke licenses against broadcasters whose editorial content – including a comedian’s jokes – displeases the President.”The senators accused Carr of using the FCC’s licensing authority as “a cudgel against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the President”.The FCC has two other open investigations into ABC, including one based on a 2024 complaint about the network’s moderation of a presidential debate and a more recent inquiry into whether The View, the ABC show, violated equal time rules when it hosted James Talarico, a Senate candidate.The letter includes a series of questions to Carr, with a request that they be answered by 21 May.
The senators asked Carr to “describe the timing and process” used by the FCC to determine that ABC should be forced to apply early for license renewal, and whether FCC lawyers reviewed the order.The letter also asks Carr whether he or his staff communicated with the White House in the days before the order was issued.At an FCC meeting last week, Carr denied that there was any external pressure.“This was a decision that we made inside this building based on where we were in the enforcement matter,” he said.“There was no pressure from the outside.
There was no suggestion from the outside.There was no call for agency action from the outside.”In addition, the senators asked whether the FCC considered any less aggressive steps before issuing the order last week, considering the nearly unprecedented nature of the demand.
Affordable fresh food is the recipe for a healthy Britain | Letter
Your article on UK food prices being on track to be 50% higher by November 2026 (4 May), read alongside your editorial on unhealthy Britain (3 May) describes a single story from two ends. Food has become unaffordable and the households absorbing those price rises are getting sicker.By the time poor health shows up in the data, families have been cutting food quality, quantity and variety for years. The Bread and Butter Thing runs affordable food clubs from Maidstone to Northumberland, supporting more than 10,000 households each week. Last week alone, 439 new members joined our network
The British public need to be better prepared for emergencies | Letter
Your editorial (Britain’s fragile systems: when global shocks hit your shopping bill, 1 May) makes clear that the public need to be more fully informed about global threats and actively engaged in a national resilience plan. The UK remains dangerously exposed to external shocks, whether from cyber-attacks, extreme weather triggered by climate change, or hostile state interference with our democratic processes and critical national infrastructure.A cross-party House of Lords special inquiry committee, which I chair, has been set up to examine national resilience. “Keep calm and carry on” doesn’t cut it: a plan for the 21st century needs to recognise the interconnectedness of threats: a cyber-attack can quickly escalate into power cuts, transport chaos, supply chain disruption and the collapse of public services. And this is not a case of “what if”: hybrid warfare emanating from Russia, China or Iran as cyber-attacks, disinformation or the sponsorship of proxy terrorist attacks is already commonplace
‘Worst year in memory’: parties describe climate of abuse on campaign trail for May elections
Candidates and political parties have described a climate of abuse in this year’s local and devolved elections, including death threats and intimidation while campaigning.Politicians from a range of parties have reported abuse and harassment in the lead-up to the elections in England, Scotland and Wales, with the Green party describing this year’s campaign as the worst in memory.Labour’s Dan Jarvis, the security minister, condemned “the rising tide of vile abuse, harassment and intimidation aimed towards elected officials and candidates” online and in person. “Anyone engaging in this sort of behaviour is directly attacking our democracy and we all must do more to stop it becoming normalised,” he said.A spokesperson for the Green party said some candidates had received death threats or been “yelled at or chased down the street”, and some had withdrawn from campaigning in certain areas due to harassment
Election monitors note instances of voters in England turned away over ID
Instances of voters being turned away from polling stations owing to confusion over photo ID requirements have been recorded by European election observers watching voting in England on Thursday.While the problem is not regarded as widespread, it has been noted by the delegation from the Council of Europe, which will issue a report on the local elections in England as well as the Scottish and Welsh government elections.The potential threat of interference by Russia or another hostile state was among issues discussed during talks this week involving the 17-member delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, which represents 46 European member states. While Russian interference is understood not to be considered an issue in these elections, the visit is part of moves to share information among European states.The delegation will publish a report on Friday that is expected to address issues including the extent to which there have been concerns over the organisation of polling stations, training of staff, access for people with disabilities and where there has been any harassment or any form of interference
May elections: Badenoch rows back on Reform pacts as millions cast their votes – as it happened
Yesterday Kemi Badenoch gave an interview to Sky News suggesting she would be happy to see Conservative councillors working with Reform UK councillors to deliver rightwing policies.In an interview with the Sun published today, Badenoch rowed back on this. She said there would not be any deals because Reform councillors weren’t “serious”. She told the paper:double quotation markWe’re not doing deals with Reform. I don’t want to see us helping Reform
Starmer’s failure to demonstrate strong values ‘driving away progressive voters’
Progressive voters have been driven away from Labour by a lack of argument and vision from Keir Starmer, according to a report using research from a senior pollster to Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.Downing Street is understood to have been briefed on the research, which has also been handed to allies of the potential leadership candidates Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner.Labour is braced for dismal results in Thursday’s elections, which could result in Starmer facing a leadership challenge.The report from UCL’s Policy Lab, using research from the eminent pollster Stan Greenberg, suggested voters felt that Starmer had a “discomfort” with progressive values. Key fights that the government could pick included a more robust challenge to Donald Trump and a more passionate defence of environmentalism
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