FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr, appointed by President Trump, scored another victory over the weekend in what he believes is a key part of his job to draw public ire.
On Saturday, Carr posted a message to X that he knew would anger the left. He strongly suggested that the FCC would not renew the licenses of broadcast stations that engaged in “misinformation and news distortion” in their coverage of the Trump administration’s war with Iran. Carr cited President Trump’s complaints about media reports that an Iranian missile attack struck and damaged five U.S. Air Force aircraft at a base in Saudi Arabia.
“Broadcast stations that broadcast misinformation and distortions of news (also known as fake news) have a chance to correct course before their licenses come up for renewal. The law is clear: stations must operate in the public interest and if they do not comply, their licenses will be revoked,” Kerr wrote on March 14.
Kerr continued, “And frankly, with trust in legacy media now at an all-time low of just 9% and viewer ratings a disaster, it is in their own business interests to change course. The American people have subsidized broadcasters billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves. It is critical that we restore trust in a media that has been labeled as fake news.”
Never mind that the Wall Street Journal first broke the news that five Air Force planes were damaged, but that news organization is not subject to FCC jurisdiction. Forget for a moment that the FCC does not regulate national television networks or their news programs. The FCC has narrow authority to license local broadcast stations. Also ignore the reality that, as explained in this CNN article, charges brought by the FCC against local broadcasters for alleged “news distortion” can be tied up in bureaucratic procedures for months, even years, before being brought to court.
On the other hand, there is no question that the FCC’s “news distortion” rules are outdated. It was first adopted in 1949, when broadcast radio and television were the primary gatekeepers of news distribution. This is certainly not the case today. And today’s “broadcast” networks are multi-platform publishers, and everything they publish and stream on the internet is not even under the direct authority of the FCC. (As a side note, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” released an interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico on YouTube after CBS wouldn’t air it on local TV airwaves because the network’s lawyers feared retaliation from Carr’s FCC over the “equal time” rule, and as a result, Talarico’s interview received a huge number of views.)
So why would Carr, knowing all this, make a strawman argument to threaten an unspecified broadcaster over unspecified “fake news” reporting, judged by his perception of what that means?
Mr. Carr wields this kind of swordplay, even if it amounts to empty threats, to whip people on the left into a frothy rage against government censorship. And in doing so, it reinforces the narrative that Mr. Carr and the FCC are in the business of reshaping media coverage in a way that thwarts what the MAGA bloc views as left-wing bias. Carr relishes the characterization of himself as President Trump’s “attack dog” for the media.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was among those who took Carr’s bait. “Article 101: It is illegal for the government to censor free speech just because it doesn’t like President Trump’s war on Iran. This threat is a direct result of authoritarian strategy,” she wrote on Saturday’s X.
In response, Kerr reaffirmed his stance that he is not censoring anyone, he is not against free speech, he is just against “fake news” and he is just doing his job to hold spectrum licensors accountable on a “public interest” basis. In response to Warren, Carr cited the Supreme Court’s 1943 decision in NBC v. United States, saying, “No one has a First Amendment right to obtain a license or monopolize radio frequency. Denying a station a license because the ‘public interest’ requires it is not a ‘denial of free speech.'” Is it against the “public interest” to broadcast the news that five US military aircraft were damaged in an Iranian attack? Carr suggests that it is indeed a violation because the president claims it is false.
“Left explodes after Mr. Carr warns broadcasters about ‘misinformation and distortion of news,’” reads the headline in the Monday edition of Policy Band, written by Ted Hahn, a longtime observer of communications policy in Washington, D.C. No doubt, this is exactly the kind of thing Carr would have wanted.
Of course, this is another case of a Trump appointee catering to one audience: President Donald Trump. Slamming “fake news” is one of President Trump’s favorite things.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, President Trump made harsh remarks to Carr about the FCC chairman’s threat to revoke the licenses of “fake news” stations. And he took an unsurprising jab at his regular targets, late-night TV hosts.
“I am thrilled to see Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr examining the licenses of some of these corrupt and extremely unpatriotic ‘news’ organizations,” President Trump wrote. “They have taken billions of dollars of America’s free airwaves and are using it to perpetuate lies, both on the news and on almost every show, including late-night idiots who get paid huge salaries for terrible ratings, but never get ‘fired,’ as I used to say on ‘The Apprentice.'”
President Trump claimed, “According to false reports in the Wall Street Journal and other sources, all but one of the five U.S. tanker planes that were shot down and severely damaged are still in the air, and they will be taking to the skies soon.” (The Journal did not report that the plane was “hit,” but said it was “hit and damaged.”)
Trump also claimed that “Iran, working closely with the fake news media,” created and distributed an AI-generated image showing the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln “burning out of control in the ocean. Not only is it not on fire, it’s not even being shot at – Iran would be smarter than to do that!” President Trump did not say which news organization allegedly reported it incorrectly. It is unclear whether U.S. news outlets inaccurately reported that the aircraft carrier had been attacked, as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy had initially suggested. However, President Trump said, “The news organization that produced this should be charged with treason for disseminating false information!”
