Three federal lawmakers are calling for a formal investigation into the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its Chairman, Brendan Carr, after alleging the agency has misused its authority to target broadcasters and other companies at the behest of President Donald Trump.
The eight-page letter was penned by Representatives Franke Pallone of New Jersey, Doris Matsui of California and Yvette D. Clarke of New York state — all Democrats — each of whom expressed their “deep concern” that Carr’s actions since becoming Chairman in January were meant to appease Trump, political advisor Elon Musk and the Republican Party by reopening complaints and launching investigations that they feel are politically motivated.
Specifically, the lawmakers take issue with the FCC re-opening news distortion complaints against WPVI (Channel 6), which shares common ownership with the ABC broadcast network, and WCBS (Channel 2), owned by CBS parent Paramount Global, as well as separate probes or informal complaints against KCBS (740 AM, 106.9 FM) in San Francisco, Comcast Corporation, NPR, PBS and YouTube TV.
“These recent actions uniformly and improperly wield the regulatory power of your agency to abridge the First Amendment rights of the entities you target,” the lawmakers said. “Many of these actions also impermissibly attempt to stretch the bounds of the FCC’s authority or engross statutory requirements in ways that are inappropriate, particularly in light of recent court decisions — that you had celebrated — which seek to narrow agency discretion.”
Since his promotion to Chairman, Carr has warned companies and industries under the agency’s purview that he intends to enforce a mandate that broadcasters adhere to the tenets of their FCC-issued license by serving the public interest; the companies not engage in discriminatory practices, to include promoting their diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) programs and by avoiding distribution deals with religious-oriented programmers, among other things; and that public media outlets not carry commercial sponsorship that invalidates their commitment to non-profit broadcasting, among other things.
But lawmakers say Carr is cherry-picking the issues that have earned scrutiny over the past two months. While Carr re-opened investigations against stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC, he chose not to re-open a complaint involving Fox-owned TV station WTXF (Channel 29). His predecessor, Jessica Rosenwocel, dismissed all four complaint in early January after determining they were politically-motivated.
“These recent actions have provoked widespread concern among stakeholders across the political spectrum,” the lawmakers said. “A bipartisan group of former Chairs of the FCC each recently criticized this overreach, arguing that it threatens fundamental constitutional rights and undermines the independence of the Commission.”
The lawmakers called Carr out on perceived hypocrisy, saying the FCC chairman long criticized actions that appeared rooted in political censorship, only to “selectively target a handful of news media outlets for their coverage of political events,” using the official’s own words against him.
“What happened to your concern about ‘concerted effort[s]…to drive political dissent from the public square?’ Your own words and previously held beliefs about freedom of speech are crystal clear, and we call on you to end this misconduct and join us ‘in publicly denouncing [attempts] to stifle political speech and independent news judgment,'” the lawmakers wrote.
Carr and the FCC have been asked to provide the lawmakers with responses to six questions or demands, including all supporting documents about the agency’s decision to re-open probes against stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC, but not Fox.
Carr has also been asked to provide insight into his interpretation of the public interest standard “[that] you frequently cite, and specifically describe the FCC’s plan and authority to enforce your interpretation of such standard.”
Carr’s answers are due by April 15. It wasn’t clear if the FCC intends to cooperate with the probe.
