FCC Chairman Declines To Say Whether Broadcast Outlets Should Be Allowed To Air Live Execution, But It’s Doubtful Networks Would Show It Anyway

The Pentagon announcement that it plans to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter in December has generated an outcry from public officials and religious figures, including the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. None of the networks have yet to comment publicly on whether they would air such an event, and there is substantial doubt that they would do so. It undoubtedly would get news coverage surrounding the stream of the execution, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made clear he wants to be public. On Friday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was asked on CNBC if the execution is “something you would allow on broadcast if they wanted to.” “Ultimately we’re going to defer to Secretary Hegseth and his decisions on how to move forward with this,” Carr said. Watch on Deadline A Pentagon spokesperson said that the Dec. 3 execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan would be live streamed and that “details will follow.” Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring dozens of others in shooting rampage at the Fort Hood military base in 2009. A livestream falls outside of the FCC’s regulatory power, but the Pentagon feed is something that, absent restrictions, broadcasters could pick up. The FCC’s obscenity, indecency and profanity guidelines do not directly address executions, but under his tenure, Carr has launched investigations of networks on the grounds that they may not be meeting their public interest obligations. FCC guidance earlier this year emphasized, among other things, that stations must air programming that is “responsive to the needs of their local communities.” “My understanding is it’s not on broadcast TV, so I don’t think there’s a role for the FCC one way or the other there,” Carr said on CNBC. “But I trust Secretary Hegseth. I mean, he’s implementing the laws and regulations that are relevant to the Department of War, and I think he’s doing a great job, and I trust that he’s making the right call on these issues.” The execution by firing squad is planned for 1 p.m. on that day and will take place at Fort Hood, Hegseth said. “It hasn’t been since World War II that we have done that, and I kind of like the mentality that we had in World War II,” Hegseth told Real America’s Voice, a pro-Trump network, in an interview this week. “We will make sure that people are able to watch it, that it is public, because people need to understand there are serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. There has been a tradition of state executions allowing a handful of journalists to witness executions, including in Texas, but with a prohibition on photos and video. It’s possible that Hasan’s legal team will try to block those plans as well. The announcement was condemned by some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the plans for a livestream “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death” and said that it “must be reconsidered.” “The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,” Coakley said. Networks have been cautious about any airing of a public death, issuing viewer advisories or having general policies against airing the moment of death. YouTube also has a policy prohibiting “violent or gory content intended to shock or disgust viewers,” but has exceptions for educational, documentary, scientific or artistic content, “including content that is in the public interest.” A YouTube spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. Another issue will be in how children will be restricted from a livestream. The U.S. Army Corrections System guidelines on military executions does not allow anyone under 18 to be a witness to such an event. There have been cases of media outlets seeking permission to record or film executions. In 1991, KQED-TV sued for access to the execution of Robert Alton Harris, but a federal judge ruled that effort, siding with prison officials’ concerns over the impact on inmates, per the Los Angeles Times.