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President Donald Trump’s administration has warned that news outlets could have their broadcast licenses revoked for critical coverage of the war against Iran, saying the media was “distorted.”
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said in a social media post Saturday that broadcast stations must “operate in the public interest” or face loss of license.
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“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.
The warning was the latest apparent threat from Carr, who has repeatedly drawn scrutiny for comments that appeared to pressure broadcasters to conform to President Trump’s priorities.
Last year, for example, Kerr called on ABC Channel and its distributors to “find a way to change their behavior and take action” on comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who criticized the president on a late-night show.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Kerr said of Kimmel on the podcast. ABC suspended Kimmel’s show in response to the comments.
Mr. Kerr’s latest comments drew immediate condemnation from politicians and free speech advocates, who likened his comments to censorship.
“This is a clear directive to provide aggressive war coverage or your license may not be renewed,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz wrote.
“This is much worse than the comedian’s. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late-night shows, he’s talking about how wars are covered.”
Aaron Tell, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), similarly accused Carr of trying to silence negative war reporting.
“The First Amendment does not allow the government to censor information about wars it is waging,” Teare said.
President Trump condemns war coverage
Carr’s latest statement came in response to President Trump’s social media post condemning “fake news media” for reporting that a U.S. refueling plane was hit in an Iranian attack in Saudi Arabia.
“The base was attacked a few days ago, but no planes were ‘hit’ or ‘destroyed’,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Four of the five vehicles are virtually undamaged and have already returned to service.”
He added that reports to the contrary are intentionally misleading. “The scumbag ‘newspapers’ and media actually want us to lose the war,” he wrote.
The president and his allies have faced accusations of using state power to punish dissent and critical reporting, raising concerns about press freedom.
The war, launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, is largely unpopular in the United States, according to polls.
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 53 percent of voters oppose military action against Iran, including 89 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independent voters.
The war has been condemned by legal experts as a clear violation of international law, which prohibits groundless attacks.
But President Trump has offered a shifting rationale for why he believes Iran poses an imminent threat to U.S. national security.
He also insisted that the war is progressing well despite continued Iranian attacks on US forces across the region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade artery.
“We won. I’m telling you, we won,” he said at a rally in Kentucky this week. “It was over in the first hour.”
Meanwhile, the government blames the press for swaying public opinion against the war.
“And yet some of these crew members and members of the media cannot be stopped,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at a briefing Friday.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host, called on “patriotic” reporters to write more optimistic headlines instead. He condemned TV banners that read, for example, “War in the Middle East intensifies.”
“What should the banners say instead? How about ‘Iran is growing more desperate’? Because they are. They know it, and so do you if you accept it,” Hegseth said.
He particularly criticized the news outlet CNN, which claims the Trump administration underestimated the possibility that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth, the son of David Ellison, the son of Trump ally and tech executive Larry Ellison, quipped that he expects a near-term deal to put CNN under control soon.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” he added.
