{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-threat-to-use-antitrust-enforcement-to-silence-news-coverage-is-abhorrent", "Blumenthal: Threat to Use Antitrust Enforcement to Silence News Coverage is Abhorrent", "2016-12-07", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Blumenthal: Threat to Use Antitrust Enforcement to Silence News Coverage is Abhorrent\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Tweet\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tAt Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider the  AT&T-Time Warner merger, Blumenthal questioned CEO\u2019s on  their commitment to a free and independent press\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWednesday, December 7, 2016\n\t\t\t[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 In a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy & Consumer Rights held to discuss the impact of the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) rigorously questioned Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T, and Jeffrey Bewkes, the Chairman and CEO of Time Warner, regarding their commitment to independent journalism in the face of threats made by President-elect Donald Trump.\r\n\u201cWhat concerns me is the reason that he gave [for opposing the merger], which is that he is very unhappy with CNN\u2019s news coverage. For a public official to use the blunt, heavy instrument of law enforcement to try to silence or change coverage by a news department of any company is, for me, absolutely abhorrent,\u201d Blumenthal said.\r\nA video of Blumenthal speaking at today\u2019s hearing is available for download here.\r\nIn response to a question from Blumenthal regarding the President-elect\u2019s proposed enforcement of laws targeting specific companies, Mr. Bewkes dismissed the President-elect\u2019s well-documented remarks, attempting to compare them to dissimilar statements made by other Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates.\r\nBlumenthal responded, \u201cMy point here is not that other candidates may have commented or not about this merger. It is perfectly appropriate for a public official or a candidate to comment on the merits of antitrust enforcement. But to threaten more vigorous or adverse enforcement against a particular company because he doesn\u2019t like the news coverage is a threat to the First Amendment. That\u2019s the fundamental point here.\u201d\r\nIn October, President-elect Donald Trump justified his opposition to the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger by deriding media coverage of his campaign and accusing media companies of \u201ctrying to poison the mind of the American voter.\u201d Under the antitrust laws, the President\u2019s view of a media company\u2019s political perspective is legally irrelevant, and government action based on such criteria is questionable under the First Amendment. President-elect Trump specifically highlighted the negative campaign coverage produced by CNN \u2013 a Time Warner subsidiary \u2013 before announcing that the AT&T-Time Warner merger is \u201ca deal we will not approve in my administration.\u201d In contrast, Senator Sanders requested that the Justice Department enforce antitrust laws and block the proposed merger, while Secretary Clinton pledged to conduct a thorough analysis before making a decision.\r\nPresident-elect Trump has also threatened enforcement action against other media companies who conduct coverage he does not agree with. In the same speech, President-elect Trump criticized the Comcast-NBC merger, basing his argument not on antitrust grounds, but on NBC, a news organization, \u201ctrying to tell voters to think and what to do.\u201d President-elect Trump also threatened to bring an antitrust case against Amazon following reports that the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon, had assigned a group of reporters to investigate the President-elect\u2019s background.\r\n\u00a0###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-threat-to-use-antitrust-enforcement-to-silence-news-coverage-is-abhorrent"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8515699300915003, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}