Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has faced intense backlash from Democratic lawmakers and free speech advocates for threatening to revoke a broadcast station’s license over its coverage of the Iran war.
Carr criticized the broadcaster on Saturday, shortly after President Donald Trump called a report about Iran’s attack on five U.S. refueling planes “fake news.”
In a post on X, Kerr warned that broadcasters would have their licenses revoked if they did not “operate in the public interest.” “Broadcast stations that spread misinformation and distortions of news, also known as fake news, have a chance to correct course before their licenses come up for renewal,” Kerr wrote in a post attached to President Trump’s statement on Truth Social earlier Saturday.
Democrats argued that Carr’s comments amounted to an authoritarian attack on free speech.
“Section 101: It is illegal for any government that doesn’t like President Trump’s Iran war to censor free speech,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote in the X newspaper on Saturday. “This threat is a direct result of authoritarian strategy.”
“We are not on the brink of a totalitarian takeover. We are in the midst of it,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in a post on X.
The FCC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that five refueling tankers were hit in an Iranian missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump cited The Journal, The New York Times and what he called other “sleazy” newspapers, calling it an “intentionally misleading headline.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to X that it was “blatantly unconstitutional” for the FCC to revoke his broadcast license because he disagreed with coverage of the Iran war.
California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu agreed, writing that such a move would be “blatantly anti-First Amendment” and “fascist.”
Even Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), an ally of President Trump, expressed displeasure at Kerr’s comments.
“I’m a big supporter of the First Amendment, and I don’t like government overreach, no matter who uses it,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing.” “So, no, I want the federal government to be as uninvolved as possible in the private sector.”
Free speech advocacy group the Individual Rights Expression Foundation criticized the FCC chairman’s warning to broadcasters over their coverage of Iran as “outrageous.”
“Something is very wrong when the government, under threat of punishment, demands that the press become the mouthpiece of the nation,” he wrote in the X newspaper.
But in response to Warren’s comments on
“No one has a First Amendment right to obtain a license or monopolize radio frequency, and denying a station a license because it is in the ‘public interest’ is ‘not a denial of free speech,'” Carr wrote.
This quote is a direct quote from the Supreme Court’s 1969 decision in Red Lion Broadcasting Company v. Federal Communications Commission, which also references another Supreme Court case in 1943, National Broadcasting Company v. United States.
Sen. Warren’s press office did not respond to a request for comment on Kerr’s rebuttal.
Carr’s threat over coverage of the Iran war is not the first time the Trump administration has gone after media outlets for comments the president doesn’t like.
ABC’s parent company Disney has revived “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The show was put on an indefinite hiatus in September after host Kimmel suggested that he was jeopardizing his local station’s license over comments linking the suspected killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of television stations, and Sinclair, a conservative broadcast network, both temporarily removed the show from their programming.
More recently, ABC’s “The View” came under pressure after Kerr said he was under investigation for not giving equal time to his opponent after hosting Texas Democratic Sen. James Talarico.
CBS star Stephen Colbert was also told by the network that his interview with Talarico could not be aired due to concerns that the Trump administration would consider it a violation. Colbert instead conducted an interview and posted it to YouTube, where FCC rules do not apply.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing that he looks forward to taking control of cable giant CNN. paramount skydancebillionaire owner David Ellison has hinted that the news network’s coverage could change after the company agreed to buy parent company CNN. warner bros discovery.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” he says.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Carr have continued to threaten media companies with revoking their broadcast licenses for unfair reporting, but these licenses only apply to local TV stations. Cable networks such as CNN, streaming services and print publications are not affected.
