Brendan Carr targets news outlets as chair of the FCC

Nov. 19, 2025 | FCC launches ‘news distortion’ probe into BBC documentary

July 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC over relationship with local affiliates

April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’

March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy

Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program

Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station

Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript

Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets

Nov. 19, 2025 | FCC launches ‘news distortion’ probe into BBC documentary

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed the heads of BBC, NPR and PBS on Nov. 19, 2025, that he was launching an investigation into alleged “news distortion” by the British broadcaster.

In a copy of the letter posted to social media, Carr wrote that by splicing together two portions of President Donald Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, the episode from BBC’s October 2024 “Panorama” documentary program “depicts President Trump voicing a sentence that, in fact, he never uttered.”

“That would appear to meet the very definition of publishing a materially false and damaging statement,” Carr continued.

The letter was also addressed to the heads of NPR and PBS, to determine whether they or any other FCC-regulated broadcaster had aired the footage.

“As you may know, broadcasters regulated by the FCC have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest,” Carr wrote. “Those public interest requirements include prohibitions on news distortion and broadcast hoax.”

He also noted that both the BBC’s director and CEO resigned Nov. 9 in the wake of a Telegraph report about the edit and a leaked internal memo written by a former adviser to the newsroom’s editorial standards committee.

Carr’s investigation follows a threat by Trump to sue the BBC for $1 billion unless it issued a retraction, apologized and paid him compensation for the misleading edit. While the broadcaster issued an apology for its editing decisions, it refused to pay the demanded damages and said there was no basis for his defamation claims.

In an entry to the Corrections and Clarifications section of its website, the BBC wrote: “We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.”

As of publication, Trump has not filed suit against the BBC. But the broadcaster has announced that it is prepared if and when he does sue, Reuters reported.

“I want to be very clear with you — our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case, and we are determined to fight this,” BBC Chair Samir Shah wrote in a letter to staff.

July 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC over relationship with local affiliates

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed NBC’s parent company on July 29, 2025, that the agency had opened an investigation into NBCUniversal and its relationship with its local broadcast affiliates.

In a letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Carr said he is investigating “numerous” reports that NBC and other similarly situated networks are attempting to “extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations” during affiliate negotiations.

“The FCC has an interest in and the authority to promote the public interest and to ensure that local broadcast TV stations retain the economic and operational independence necessary to meet their public interest obligations,” he wrote.

Comcast told Reuters that it had received the letter and plans to cooperate with the investigation.

“We are proud that for many decades we have supported local broadcast TV stations with world-class sports and entertainment,” the statement said. “We will continue to invest heavily in this partnership to keep the broadcast business strong.”

The investigation is the latest in a series launched by Carr since he took over as chair in January under the Trump administration, including a separate probe into Comcast’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr accused Comcast — the parent company of MSNBC and NBC News — of violating its broadcast licenses in a post on the social platform X on April 16, 2025, citing the outlets’ reporting on the wrongful deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

“Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular ‘Maryland man.’ When the truth comes out, they ignore it,” Carr wrote. “Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.”

According to the FCC, while broadcast stations like NBC News are subject to the agency’s jurisdiction, cable networks like MSNBC are not.

On April 21, the Center for American Rights filed a complaint with the FCC against NBC, ABC and CBS alleging the outlets provided “false or misleading information” during their coverage about Abrego Garcia. The outlets were already the subjects of investigations reopened by Carr in February following complaints filed by the conservative group.

March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a March 27, 2025, letter to ABC and its parent Disney, said the agency had launched an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all in on invidious forms of DEI discrimination a few years ago and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Carr wrote.

While Disney scaled back its diversity efforts in November 2024, Carr indicated that the changes may not have gone far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” he added.

Carr specified that the probe will apply to both past and current policies.

President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing a Jan. 22 executive order eliminating them in the federal government and pressuring private companies to follow suit.

A Disney spokesperson told Reuters, “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”

In an interview with Fox News on March 31, Carr suggested that the broadcaster’s license could be at risk, The Hill reported.

“If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, that’s a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license,” Carr said.

ABC News is also facing an FCC investigation into how the broadcaster moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden, which Carr reopened in January.

Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a Feb. 11, 2025, letter to NBC News parent Comcast, said the agency would launch an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act,” Carr’s letter read, “including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing an executive order eliminating such programs in the federal government on Jan. 22 and pressuring private companies to follow suit. PBS News told employees on Feb. 11 that it was eliminating its DEI office to be in compliance with the administration’s policy.

Tom Wheeler, a former chair of the FCC, told The New York Times that this latest investigation fits a pattern of Carr using the commission’s authority to advance Trump’s political aims.

“It’s clear that what is going on here is — whether it be Comcast and DEI or NPR and PBS, or CBS and the ‘60 Minutes’ interview — is how can you use the coercive authority of regulation to accomplish the goals of your master and mentor, Donald Trump?” Wheeler said.

Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr launched an investigation into San Francisco, California, radio station KCBS on Feb. 5, 2025, after the station broadcast the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during operations in the San Jose area, Fox News reported.

Carr told Fox that he believes KCBS may have violated licensing rules requiring broadcasters to operate in the “public interest.”

Carr had previously opposed the transfer of the station’s license, following Republican scrutiny of the ownership role of billionaire investor George Soros, a Democratic megadonor whose nonprofit now controls the broadcasting outlet.

Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed public broadcasters NPR and PBS on Jan. 29, 2025, that he had initiated an investigation into the news outlets, suggesting that they may have violated federal law by airing commercial advertisements. A copy of the letter was also shared with members of Congress, Carr wrote, because of its potential relevance to ongoing debates.

“In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” the letter read. “For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”

That same day, the FCC sent a letter of inquiry to CBS News demanding that the outlet turn over the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds” from a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes” in October 2024, according to a statement published by the broadcaster.

CBS said that it was working to comply with the inquiry, “as we are legally compelled to do.” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to obtain a copy of the inquiry as of press time.

A spokesperson for CBS told Reuters that the news organization submitted the documents to the FCC on Feb. 3. In an interview with Fox News, Carr said he was “open minded as to potential consequences” and that he would consider releasing the transcript in the interest of transparency.

CBS published the transcripts and video that it turned over to Carr on Feb. 5. “They show — consistent with 60 Minutes’ repeated assurances to the public — that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” the outlet wrote.

The Harris interview was the focus of a federal lawsuit filed against CBS on behalf of President Donald Trump, which alleged the network had “doctored” the broadcast in an attempt to influence the presidential election. Trump had demanded the network release unedited tapes and transcripts. CBS has maintained the claims are false and the suit without merit.

Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets

Brendan Carr, a Donald Trump appointee and the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission, reinstated complaints against multiple outlets that Trump targeted leading up to and in the wake of the election, alleging their reporting was biased and aimed at swaying favor toward his opponent.

NPR reported that, shortly before leaving office, then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed complaints about appearances by Kamala Harris on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and about how ABC News moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden.

“We don’t have the luxury of doing anything other than making very, very clear that this agency and its licensing authority should not be weaponized in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said. “This agency should not be the president’s speech police and this agency shouldn’t be journalism’s censor-in-chief.”

Rosenworcel also dismissed a complaint against a Philadelphia Fox station for allegedly promoting lies about election fraud in the 2020 election.

Carr took over as FCC chair on Jan. 20, and reinstated the complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC two days later. In a statement, the agency said that the complaints had been dismissed “prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record,” according to The Guardian.

Carr had previously demonstrated his willingness to target news outlets based on alleged bias, and he has supported Trump’s calls for NBC, CBS and ABC to lose their broadcast licenses over their alleged mistreatment of him, NPR reported.