Outgoing FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has rejected petitions to rebuke four local TV stations. She says they were efforts to punish broadcast networks' coverage of presidential politics.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it is rejecting complaints over an ABC-moderated September presidential debate and Vice President Kamala Harris' appearances on CBS' "60 Minutes" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

The outgoing Democratic chair of the Federal Communications Commission is taking bold action on the way out the door, rejecting what she described as four efforts to weaponize the government’s TV licensing authority for political purposes.

In one of her final acts as head of the FCC, chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel ordered the agency to reject four complaints and petitions against local TV stations — which she says represent politically motivated efforts “to curtail freedom of the press and undermine the First Amendment.

The departing chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, warned of efforts to tie the broadcast station license renewals to news content, as the agency dismissed a series of complaints brought from the left and the right.