WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Chairman of the FCC threatened to revoke licenses for news outlets over their coverage of the Iran war. A journalism advocacy organization said the Chairman’s threats are toothless.
On Saturday, Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the FCC, threatened to pull news organizations broadcast licenses for their coverage of the war in Iran. Carr’s post on X said in part “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 com up. The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
The FCC does not license national networks, but it does license the local stations that carry their programming.
Carr’s post was in response to the President’s statement on social media referring to an article that reported five American refueling planes had been struck in Saudi Arabia. Trump claimed the headline was “intentionally misleading”.
“I actually think it’s pretty criminal because our media companies, who have no credibility whatsoever, are putting out information that they know is false,” the President said on board Air Force One over the weekend.
Anna Gomez, a Commissioner with the FCC, shared on X, “The FCC can issue threats all day long, but it is powerless to carry them out. Such threats violate the First Amendment and will go nowhere. Broadcasters should continue covering the news, fiercely and independently, without fear of government pressure.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shared on social media in response to Carr’s post: “This is vindictive, fascist stuff.” He also added: “We need a non-partisan watchdog at the FCC, not a partisan attack dog.”
“Brendan Carr knows full well the FCC is not in the business of policing content and the public interest requirement is not a license for censorship,” said Seth Stern, chief of advocacy with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. “He said so himself when he was a FCC commissioner before he became FCC chair, before he aligned himself with Donald Trump.”
We asked Stern if Carr’s comments could lead to a chilling effect:
“Yes, very much so,” responded Stern. “You can say as many have that Carr is bluffing that licenses aren’t up for renewal until several years until 2028 by which time presumably Brendan Carr will not be FCC chair. Even if he were able to call up licenses to be renewed early, there would be an extended litigation process and regulatory process and there would be ample avenues to challenge his efforts to retaliate. That’s all true his threats are pretty toothless legally speaking, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a chilling effect 0448 because keep in mind most of the outlets he’s threatening are owned by giant corporate conglomerates. Even if the risk is minimal that Brendan Carr would be able to do anything to them, they might not want to take any risk.”
