Several major media organizations have requested access to the thousands of hours of video recorded inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) provided the footage to Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.
The letter, sent to congressional leaders on Friday, argues that footage provided exclusively to Carlson should be shared with other media groups. Earlier this week, McCarthy provided Carlson with 41,000 hours of CCTV footage from inside the US Capitol during the attack.
The letter was sent on behalf of ABC, Advance Publications, Axios, CNN, CBS, Gannett, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, ProPublica and Scripps.
Attorney Charles Tobin, who represents the outlets, said full public access to the footage is needed to complete the historical record.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there are fears that an ideologically driven narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal states. . investigation and prosecution of the crimes of January 6,” Tobin wrote in the letter.
Carlson has repeatedly defended the rioters who attacked the Capitol and called hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection “propaganda.”
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