FCC Chair declares ‘no sacred cows,’ he’s willing to pull broadcast licenses from media companies

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is not afraid of pulling broadcast licenses from media companies that he deems out of line.

In a candid interview with The Wall Street Journal, Carr discussed using “regulatory levers to improve broadcast news and restore broken trust between the public and the media,” despite critics of President Donald Trump insisting that the opposite is true.

“President Trump ran directly at the legacy mainstream media, and he smashed a facade that they’re the gatekeepers of truth,” he chairman explained.

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression chief counsel Robert Corn-Revere is concerned about the First Amendment implications of Carr’s hands-on approach.

“This appears to be part of a political campaign against what the chairman perceives to be enemies of the president,” he warned.

“We are fully aligned with the agenda that President Trump is running,” Carr said, breaking away from past trends of FCC chairs avoiding outward political ties and endeavoring to appear independent.

“Carr embraces his part in the administration’s vision for a muscular executive branch where all government agencies, from the Federal Reserve to the FCC, ultimately answer to the White House. On his desk he displays a seating pass for Air Force One and a lapel pin featuring Trump’s face, which caused an internet firestorm the one time Carr wore it in public,” WSJ wrote.

He’s also willing to use the power of his position to pull the broadcasting licenses of networks that he views as not operating in “public interest, convenience and necessity.”

“Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” he said.

The only time the FCC has actually removed a license was in the 1971 case of a Jackson, Mississippi, network that defended segregation.

But critics are concerned that the efforts may already be going too far.

“Following Trump’s accusations that Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, shows bias toward Democrats, Carr launched two probes into the company,” Fox News reported. “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’s staunch support of Trump’s America First agenda has made him a target of the left, who accuse him of using “power” to “dictate the press.”

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the President should not be reshaping the media landscape to serve his political ends.

The FCC greenlighting a merger that hands even more media power to a Trump-aligned executive isn’t policy, it’s propaganda by design. Democracy suffers… https://t.co/rB03yPcRFI

— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) July 25, 2025

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

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