Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview published Monday that he is willing to penalize major media companies if he and President Donald Trump believe they are "out of line."
The Wall Street Journal described Carr as a maverick, saying he has embraced Trump’s "showman instincts" to hold broadcasters accountable. While previous FCC chairs were often reluctant to rein in major companies, Carr said he would pull broadcast licenses from any outlet he believes has engaged in misconduct against the "public interest."
"Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows," Carr told the outlet.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he will not shy away from penalizing broadcasters who engage in misconduct. (John McDonnell/Getty)
Carr, who has been with the FCC since 2017, said the agency is "fully aligned with the agenda that President Trump is running."
He said Trump has set the tone for the government’s approach to media companies, stating, "President Trump ran directly at the legacy mainstream media, and he smashed a facade that they’re the gatekeepers of truth."
Following Trump’s accusations that Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, shows bias toward Democrats, Carr launched two probes into the company.
The FCC has been investigating Comcast’s diversity policies. In April, Carr said the NBC News and MSNBC parent was "misleading the American public" with its coverage of a high-profile deportation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Carr said in July that the FCC would examine Comcast's relationship with NBC stations and affiliates and whether its programming decisions "best reflect the needs and interests of their communities."
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
As the Journal noted, Carr has justified these actions by citing a 1934 law stating that "because a given broadcast network is granted airwaves to use exclusively as its own, it needs to operate in ‘public interest, convenience and necessity.’"
The report noted the only time the FCC revoked a company’s broadcast license was in 1971, when a Mississippi station defended segregation. Carr has signaled he would have no issue doing the same today.
While previous FCC chairs tried to appear independent of the president’s agenda, Carr said he is leaning in.
"We are fully aligned with the agenda that President Trump is running," he told the paper.
Critics argue Carr is politicizing the FCC’s work.
"This appears to be part of a political campaign against what the chairman perceives to be enemies of the president," said Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), arguing to the Wall Street Journal that it violates the agency’s responsibility to protect free speech.
Signage is seen at the headquarters of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in July that the FCC’s approval of the merger between CBS parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media "looks like corruption, plain and simple." Weeks before the merger, Paramount agreed to pay Trump a $16 million settlement in his election interference lawsuit over the editing of a CBS News "60 Minutes" interview.
Before the deal, Skydance also pledged it would appoint an ombudsman to "evaluate complaints of bias" at Paramount, and would not enact new diversity policies.
Carr defended the FCC’s handling of the deal, saying the merger review followed the rules and noting the ombudsman reports to CBS, not the FCC.
The FCC did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.