FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the news station’s coverage of the Iran war could affect its license renewal.
Trump says FCC should take into account bias against him when it comes to TV licenses
President Donald Trump told reporters that networks that air negative coverage of him risk having their FCC licenses revoked.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke the licenses of broadcast stations over their coverage of the Iran war, after President Trump accused news organizations of “deliberately misleading” the American public.
President Trump criticized print media, including The Wall Street Journal, which reported Friday that an Iranian attack damaged five U.S. Air Force refueling planes stationed in Saudi Arabia. The president said four of the five tanker planes were “virtually undamaged and have already returned to service.”
“The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal (among others), and other sleazy newspapers and media outlets actually want us to lose the war,” Trump said in a social media post, calling journalists “sick and demented people.”
In a follow-up post, Carr warned that the FCC would consider coverage of the Iran war when renewing broadcaster licenses.
“Broadcasters that spread misinformation and distortions of news, also known as fake news, have a chance to correct course before their licenses are renewed,” he said in a social media post. “The law is clear: broadcasters must operate in the public interest. If they don’t comply, their licenses will be revoked.”
Adam Tell, director of public policy for the free speech nonprofit Individual Rights and Expression Foundation, condemned Carr’s comments, arguing that they amounted to government censorship and violated the First Amendment.
“The president’s handpicked disinformation czar is once again singling out ‘fake news’ that contradicts his boss’s political agenda,” Tell wrote in the post. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to censor information about wars it is waging.”
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called Carr’s post “patently unconstitutional.”
“If Trump doesn’t like your war reporting, his FCC will revoke your broadcast license,” Newsom, a fierce opponent of President Trump, said on March 14.
This is not the first time Carr has been accused of censorship. In September, free speech activists and opponents of President Trump accused the FCC chairman of appearing to threaten ABC with taking action against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over comments he made about Charlie Kirk.
Kerr recently called on broadcasters to air “patriotic, pro-American content” as part of programming to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.
