Donald Trump‘s FCC chairman threatened broadcaster licenses and warned that news outlets should “course correct” before their renewals come up after the president blasted the media over their coverage of the Iran war.
Brendan Carr wrote on X on Saturday, “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
Carr linked to Trump’s Truth Social post, in which the president singled out headlines reporting on an Iranian strike on five Air Force refueling planes in Saudi Arabia. Trump called it an “intentionally misleading headline” and wrote that the aircraft was of “no further use.” “Four of the five had virtually no damage,” he wrote. “The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War.”
The FCC doesn’t regulate newspapers, but Carr’s message appeared to be another flex warning to broadcasters of potential action, even as First Amendment groups say that efforts to dictate news coverage violate the Constitution.
In his latest and previous attacks on the media, Carr has repeatedly cited the FCC’s “news distortion” policy, which prohibits broadcasters from deliberately distorting a factual news report.
In its guidance, the FCC says, “The FCC’s authority to take action on complaints about the accuracy or bias of news networks, stations, reporters or commentators in how they cover – or sometimes opt to not cover – events is narrow. The agency is prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press.”
The FCC’s next round of license renewals for stations come in 2028. Challenges to those renewals can drag on for years.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) wrote on X about Carr’s post, “This is a clear directive to provide positive war coverage or else licenses may not be renewed. This is worse than the comedian stuff, and by a lot. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late night shows, he’s talking about how a war is covered.”
Carr also has gone after late night and daytime talk shows, warning that they may violate the agency’s Equal Time Rule if they feature political candidates as guests.
Carr has conducted inquiries on other matters, including the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris in 2024. Yet he has not issued any kind of sanction on a number of items. If he were to do so, networks could challenge those fines or other sanctions in court on First Amendment grounds.
Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, has said that the threats of agency action are the point. There’s even a term for it: “jawboning,” or “regulation by raised eyebrow,” intended to elicit an action from a private company by mere pressure from a government entity.
Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said in a statement, “Brendan Carr’s authoritarian warning — that networks risk their broadcasting licenses for Iran war reporting that the government doesn’t like — is outrageous. When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong.”
Creeley noted that Carr in 2019 said, “Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest.’”
Creeley said, “But today, Carr cites the ‘public interest’ to blatantly threaten news outlets because the president doesn’t like their reporting.”