Under President Donald Trump, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr said that he is willing to punish media outlets that are “out of line.”
Carr indicated this in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. It noted that Carr, who has been with the FCC since 2017 and has served under Trump and former President Joe Biden, has adopted the current president’s “showman instincts” in his role. One example of Carr’s approach to running the FCC included by the WSJ was his move to urge Comcast not to drop the YES Network, which airs New York Yankees games.
“The FCC does have authority to step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct,” he said on social media, per the WSJ. He also told the outlet that “broadcast licenses are not sacred cows.”
Fox News noted that Carr seems more willing to be tough on media companies than other FCC leaders. He’s said himself that Trump “ran directly at the legacy mainstream media, and he smashed a facade that they’re the gatekeepers of truth.” Carr also opened probes into NBCUniversal after allegations of liberal bias from Trump. An investigation of NBC’s diversity policies was included.
According to Carr, the FCC is “fully aligned with the agenda that President Trump is running.”
Trump’s administration has been critical of the media, from Vice President JD Vance accusing POLITICO of “journalistic malpractice” to the White House issuing a press release that Border Czar Tom Homan “Annihilates MSDNC’s Lies,” referring to MSNBC. Trump has even lashed out at typically conservative Fox News over its reporting of his poll numbers. In addition to being critical of the media, the Trump administration has worked to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Per the Wall Street Journal, Carr has justified actions related to NBC by citing a 1934 law stating that “because a given broadcast network is granted airwaves to use exclusively as its own, it needs to operate in ‘public interest, convenience and necessity.’” It also said the only time the FCC has revoked a broadcast license was in 1971, when a Mississippi station defended segregation.
Carr has said he’s working in alignment with the Trump administration agenda and he has been hit with criticism that he is politicizing the FCC, Fox said. Critics include Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who said its approval of the July merger between Paramount and Skydance Media was “corruption.”
Skydance Media is owned by the son of powerful conservative donor. Paramount is the parent company of CBS, which made headlines this year for canceling Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show”, a move that came with rumors that it was cancelled for political reasons.
“The New York Times is very upset that CBS selected a former advisor to President Trump & Trump nominee as an ombudsman as part of its new commitment to fair, fact-based reporting,” Carr said in a Tuesday X post. “But diversity of viewpoints is a good thing! And the NYT could learn a thing or two about that.”
In a Wednesday X post, Carr praised Ted Baehr, chairman of Chistian movie review outlet Movieguide.
“They’re doing great work to promote positive, uplifting, and successful family-friendly programming,” said Carr.