FCC Chair Brendan Carr Wages War Against Media Critics of President Trump, Using Regulatory Power for Political Intimidation

In the eight months since President Brendan Carr assumed the role of chairman at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), controversy has swirled around his perceived bias towards free speech advocacy, particularly in relation to media outlets critical of the president.

Recently, President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with broadcast networks, stating they were “97% against me.” He further hinted at potential repercussions for networks, implying that licensing issues could be used as leverage: “It will be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country, and he’s a tough guy. So we’ll see.”

It is essential to clarify that networks do not hold broadcast licenses, but their local affiliates do. Nevertheless, Carr has launched formal investigations into all major U.S. broadcast networks, with the exception of Fox—owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch.

Carr’s actions have been perceived as supportive of Trump’s private lawsuits against media outlets over their news coverage. Intriguingly, the investigations of ABC and CBS coincided with complaints made in Trump’s lawsuits against them. Both networks opted to settle the cases for $16 million each rather than proceeding to trial, despite seemingly favorable odds.

Carr has also leveraged the FCC’s powers to review major deals, aiming to extract concessions from corporate owners. CBS’ previous owners announced they were pulling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—one of Trump’s most prominent comedic critics—shortly after the FCC approved the sale of the company. The network attributed this decision to financial reasons, but suspicions abound.

Upon taking over, Skydance Media—the new owner—announced the appointment of a new ombudsman to review CBS news coverage, a commitment presumably made to Carr. The new ombudsman is a former think tank chief who had been unsuccessfully nominated by Trump to be ambassador to Japan and has publicly voiced support for the administration on social media.

Carr also initiated an investigation into NPR and PBS, alleging they were violating federal law by airing commercials. He has vocally supported the elimination of federal funding for public media—something that falls outside the FCC’s jurisdiction and is under the purview of Congress. This stance led to the rescinding of all money already appropriated for the next two years due to pressure from Trump, who cited a perceived liberal bias at the public broadcasters.

This week, late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC, leading many to question Carr’s influence. While Kimmel’s remarks about the president sparked controversy among conservatives, it was Carr’s reaction that ignited a swift chain of events. He reportedly told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way… There’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group—companies that own many local television stations including numerous ABC affiliates—announced they would indefinitely pull Kimmel’s show. Soon after, ABC followed suit. All three companies have pending deals requiring approval by either the FCC or federal antitrust regulators.

Gigi Sohn, a former senior Democratic official at the FCC, expressed concern about Carr’s actions: “What he has done here – using the bully pulpit to essentially intimidate a major network into canceling one of its hours – there’s nothing that comes close in the history of the Federal Communications Commission.”

Carr has yet to comment on his actions at the FCC. However, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that broadcast licenses impose a unique obligation on networks to operate in the public interest: “If you are going to have a license from the FCC, we expect you to broadly serve the public interest.” He further criticized late-night shows for shifting from comedy to “enforcing a very narrow political ideology” that only appeals to a subset of the American public. Carr suggested such programming would be more appropriate for podcasts or cable programming, which are not regulated by the FCC.

The consolidation of media ownership has led to fewer corporate players being targeted by the FCC, providing Trump and Carr with increased leverage over the industry. Previously, the commission’s chief broadcast regulator worked in relative anonymity, but Carr’s public stance and actions have raised concerns about potential political influence on media outlets.