<p>President Trump is threatening to revoke NBC&rsquo;s broadcasting license following a report that he calls a &ldquo;made up story.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>The story, which aired earlier this week, claimed that Trump asked to significantly increase the nation&rsquo;s nuclear arsenal &ndash; something that would violate international treaties that have been signed by every president since Reagan. ;</p>
<p>The president&rsquo;s comments reportedly came during a July 20th meeting at the Pentagon. As reported by NBC, the request was in response to a presentation showing a decrease in the US nuclear arsenal since the 1960&rsquo;s. NBC also reported that Tillerson called Trump a &ldquo;moron&rdquo; after the meeting. Tillerson and the White House have denied this claim. ;</p>
<p>Trump slammed NBC on Twitter, calling the story as &ldquo;pure fiction, made up to demean.&rdquo; ; In a later tweet, he wrote, &ldquo;With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Trump&rsquo;s threat against NBC raises some important questions about the First Amendment. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Not how it works,&rdquo; tweeted Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat and member of the FCC. ;</p>
<p>For a TV station to broadcast, it must have a license from the FCC. These licenses are issued to individual stations, not to entire networks. ;According to a 2008 commission document, the First Amendment &ldquo;protects broadcasts that criticize or ridicule established customs and institutions, including the government and its officials.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But this report isn&rsquo;t ridicule &ndash; it is misinformation presented as fact. The point here is that NBC aired a story without checking the facts, and Trump has called them out on it. Trump suggested that the network&rsquo;s license be investigated, and an FCC committee member posted the regulations. ;</p>
<p>This is dangerous because Trump has the power to make changes to the rules &ndash; and then we really will have a First Amendment issue: do we allow stations to publish fake news and mislead the country, threatening our democratic process? Or do we attempt to curtail it but threaten First Amendment rights? ;</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> Few presidents have taken on the media the way Trump has, and after 8 years of love-fest with Obama, the media is not used to this. But Trump&#8217;s threats are real.</p>
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