Ahead of Oscars Sunday, Jane Fonda‘s recently relaunched Committee for the First Amendment released a statement condemning and warning about escalating attacks on free speech and media — a direct response to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr‘s threats against TV broadcasters’ licenses for their Iran War coverage.
“Today is not a normal Oscars,” the statement begins. “Yesterday, the sitting Federal Communications Commission Chair, Brendan Carr, threatened that TV broadcasters must ‘course correct’ their coverage of the Iran war or ‘the [sic] will lose their licenses.’”
“FCC Carr’s threat to punish reporting on the war that the Trump administration doesn’t like came just one day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth openly called for CNN to be taken over by Paramount — and just one hour after the president posted an image outlining his plan to ‘reshape the media’ by defunding public news, firing late-night hosts and news anchors, and waging war on media companies,” the committee’s statement continues.
The letter concludes: “Make no mistake about it: These are direct attacks on the First Amendment and part of a deliberate march toward authoritarianism. In that world, journalists are punished for telling the truth, media companies are expected to fall in line, and dissent is treated as a threat. But that future is not inevitable. Do not obey in advance. Speak loudly, stand with journalists, and defend the very freedoms that make moments like today possible. None of this is normal — and we must act accordingly, together.”
Yesterday, Carr wrote on X, linking to Donald Trump‘s Truth Social post lashing out at reporting on the war: “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.”
As with the chair’s previous threats against late-night hosts who run afoul of the POTUS, the words were widely condemned by Democrats, rights groups and media-affiliated organizations as unconstitutional censorship and infringement on First Amendment rights of the press.
Last October, Fonda restarted her father Henry Fonda’s McCarthy-era committee to protect against attacks on free speech. Since then, it has accrued over 3,000 entertainment industry members.