FARGO OFFICE: 32 17 FIECHTNER DRIVE, SUITE D FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA 581 03 701 -356-221 6 KEVIN CRAMER NORTH DAKOTA WASHINGTON 0.C. OFFICE: 1032 LONGWORTH BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 2051 5 202-225-261 1 BISMARCK OFFICE: 220 EAST ROSSER AVENUE SUITE 328 BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA 58501 701-224-0355 MINOT OFFICE: 31 5 MAIN STREET SOUTH, SUITE 203 MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA 58701 701-839-0255 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC 2051 5 GRAND FORKS OFFICE: CENTER FOR INNOVATION FOUNDATION BUILDING 4200 JAMES RAY DRIVE, OFFICE 600 GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202 701-738-4880 November 4, 2016 Ben Sherwood Disney Media Networks, Co-Chairman Disney I ABC Television Group, President 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, California 91521 Stephen B. Burke NBCUniversal, President & CEO Comcast Building 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112 Leslie Moonves CBS Corporation, Chairman, President, & CEO CBS Headquarters 51 W. 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 Dana Walden FOX Television Stations Group, Chairman & CEO FOX Television Stations Group 1211 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Dear Mr. Sherwood, Mr. Burke, Mr. Moonves, and Ms. Walden: As a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce with subcommittee assignments to Communications and Technology and Oversight and Investigations, I am writing to inform you that I intend to request a hearing to explore network media bias in coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign. A recent Gallup poll indicates that Americans' trust and confidence in the mass media - to report the news fully, accurately and fairly- has dropped to 32 percent, its lowest level in polling history. Last week, a poll released by the Associated Press also found that 56 percent of likely voters think the media is biased against Republican nominee Donald Trump while just 37 percent say the coverage of the race is mostly balanced. Furthermore, a Harvard University study this summer reported that Donald Trump coverage went from 57 percent positive and 43 percent negative during the early Republican primaries to 61 percent negative and 39 percent positive after Trump defeated his last Republican rivals. With the most recent RealClearPolitics poll average showing Hillary Clinton at 45.3 points to Donald Trump at 42. 7 points, your broadcast news networks - who utilize federal spectrum to conduct their operations - have a moral obligation to provide balanced, unbiased news coverage for the American people. To be clear, I do not support a return to the Fairness Doctrine. However, while the principle of an independent media is critical to our constitutional government, a news media free of political bias is required for a free system to flourish. Our national broadcast networks have a unique relationship with the American people, one that should not be taken lightly, and has been supported by our federal government from the very beginning. Still today, broadcast networks enjoy the use of federally-allocated spectrum to increase their access to the American people. For this reason, I am alarmed by recent polls and studies, which seem to confirm that our national network news has devolved from fact-based journalism to surreptitious propaganda. As you are well aware, the privilege to broadcast a free signal is a privilege afforded to very few, and with it comes tremendous responsibility. The broadcast license awarded to you by the Federal Communications Commission is on behalf of the citizens. The spectrum your news is carried on is not yours alone but rather the property of a skeptical citizenry. Your FCC license and the liberty that comes with your First Amendment rights are not a license to broadcast anything you want or in any way you choose. Rather, this special freedom comes with basic moral and legal parameters. Kevin Cramer Member of Congress CRAMER . HOUSE . GOV