During an interview on Sunday Sept. 6 with Fox News, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr blasted broadcasters for taking “billions of dollars in taxpayer…subsidized distribution” while ignoring their public interest obligations and providing “partisan” news coverage.
Carr made the comments in response to social media posts in late August by President Trump who lashed out at “FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA” and by Trump’s complaints about the way `Meet the Press’ moderator Kristen Welker covered some primary results. In August 30 comments Trump said Welker should face “rebuke or punishment” from the FCC.
In response to a question about Welker, Carr lauded Trump’s understanding of the FCC’s authority and U.S. communications law by saying the “one thing that President Trump gets fundamentally is that broadcast TV is completely different than other forms of distribution, including cable” in that they are governed by public interest rules.
“So many broadcasters right now want to break the deal that they cut with the American people,” Carr continued. “They get billions of dollars in taxpayer, effectively subsidized distribution, and what they're supposed to do in exchange is operate in the public interest, not some sort of narrow partisan interest. I think President Trump is over the target, and we're looking at a lot of actions.”
“For instance,” he added, “there's a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there, and so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they're done to suppress people heading into the fall.”
How the FCC would regulate the coverage of polls or even determine which ones are funded by political action committees or political parties that have clear partisan objectives is open to question.
Carr also did not address whether the FCC would expand its regulation of news coverage to include conservative talk radio, something he has avoided doing in the past, or if he would continue to limit the FCC's guidance and regulatory threats to TV stations and networks.
The FCC’s lone Democrat Commissioner Anna Gomez blasted the idea in a post on X.
“News coverage of a poll that doesn't favor a political party is not a license to meddle in an election through intimidation,” she noted. “Broadcasters should take note. Do not let a sad and desperate attempt to punish accurate reporting become an excuse for censorship.”
“Polls can be wrong,” she added. “That's no surprise to anyone who has followed politics over the last decade. The FCC faces a very high bar to prove news distortion, and it requires clear evidence of an intentional effort to mislead the public. Without it, this is all political theater.”
