Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has received fierce backlash from Democratic lawmakers and free speech advocates for threatening to revoke broadcasters’ licenses for their coverage of the war in Iran.
Carr criticized the broadcasters on Saturday shortly after President Donald Trump called reports that Iran attacked five US tankers “fake news.”
In a post on X, Carr warned that broadcasters will lose their licenses if they do not “operate in the public interest.” “Broadcasters who are spreading hoaxes and news distortions, also known as fake news, now have the opportunity to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote in the post, which accompanied Trump’s statement on Truth Social on Saturday.
Democrats said Carr’s comments amounted to an authoritarian attack on free speech.
“Constitutional Law 101: It’s illegal for the government to censor free speech it just doesn’t like about Trump’s war on Iran,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote in X on Saturday. “This threat is straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”
“We are not on the brink of a totalitarian takeover,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., wrote in a post on X. “WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that five refueling tankers were hit during an Iranian missile attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called that an “intentionally misleading headline,” citing the Journal, The New York Times and what he called other “Lowlife” newspapers.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, wrote in X that it would be “flagrantly unconstitutional” for the FCC to pull a broadcast license because he disagreed with coverage of the Iran war.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., agreed, writing that such a move would be “flagrantly contrary to the First Amendment” and “fascist.”
Even Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a Trump ally, expressed displeasure with Carr’s comments.
“I’m a big supporter of the First Amendment, I don’t like the heavy hand of government, no matter who exercises it,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing.” “So no, I prefer that the federal government stay as far away from the private sector as possible.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech advocacy group, called the FCC chairman’s warning to broadcasters about their Iran coverage “outrageous.”
“When the government demands that the press become the mouthpiece of the state under threat of punishment, something went very wrong,” he wrote in X.
However, Carr, responding to Warren’s statements about
“No one has a First Amendment right to a license or to monopolize a radio frequency; denying a station a license because ‘the public interest’ requires it ‘is not a denial of free speech,'” Carr wrote.
That quote is a direct quote from a 1969 Supreme Court decision in Red Lion Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Federal Communications Commissionwhich in turn had made reference to another Supreme Court case, National Broadcasting Co. v. United States in 1943.
Senator Warren’s press office did not respond to a request for comment on Carr’s rebuttal.
Carr’s threats over Iran war coverage are far from the first time the Trump administration has attacked media companies for comments the president didn’t like.
Disney, ABC’s parent company, brought back “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after pausing the show indefinitely in September after Carr suggested local stations risked their licenses over host Kimmel’s comments linking the alleged murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of broadcast television stations, and the conservative network Sinclair temporarily removed the program from their programming.
More recently, ABC’s “The View” came under pressure after Carr said the show was under investigation for not giving equal time to opposition candidates after it hosted Democratic Sen. James Talarico of Texas.
His network also told CBS star Stephen Colbert that it could not air an interview with Talarico for fear that the Trump administration would consider it a violation. Instead, Colbert did the interview and posted it on YouTube, where FCC rules do not apply.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at a Pentagon briefing, said he expected cable giant CNN to be controlled by supreme skydanceCNN’s billionaire owner David Ellison hinted that the news network’s reporting may change now that the company has agreed to acquire CNN’s parent company. Warner Bros. Discovery.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” he said.
While Trump and Carr continue to threaten media companies with losing their broadcast licenses due to what they call unfair coverage, these licenses only apply to local television stations. Cable networks like CNN, streaming services and print publications are not affected.
