Opinion: FCC chair’s threats are a brazen violation of independent media |
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from media outlets that aren’t serving the public interest. This came after President Donald Trump criticized media outlets, claiming they were painting American military action in Iran in a bad light.
Since the United States-Israeli intervention in Iran, videos from Lebanon and Iran have flooded the internet and broader media ecosystem, showing U.S. missiles striking schools, hospitals and residential blocks in cities such as Tehran and Karaj. These strikes have killed more than 1,300 civilians and 13 U.S. service members.
Unsurprisingly, the conflict has deteriorated the U.S. image and has led to detrimental media coverage domestically and abroad.
Our leaders are brutally aware of how the American public feels about the war. Only one in four Americans supports U.S. military action in Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in early March. To put that into perspective, support for our intervention in Iran is viewed less favorably than our involvement in the Vietnam War just two years before its end.
It’s in their interest to slow down the coverage out of Iran and Lebanon, and threatening broadcasters can be an incredibly effective strategy. Ultimately barring Americans from information that may impact their everyday lives.
Although Carr may not have any legal basis for these revocations, his threats are enough to profoundly alter American media. Many are worried about the chilling effect these threats may bring.
Zoey Grimes | Design Editor
“I think he wants broadcasters to think before they speak, and think, ‘Will President Trump like what I’m about to say? And if not, have them choose not to say it,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said.
The chairman’s threats are clearly an attempt at controlling what the American public thinks and a push for state-owned media. Trump has tirelessly voiced his distaste for the press, claiming they’re an enemy of the people and repeatedly threatening to imprison those exercising their First Amendment right.
He has abused his influence as a world leader to bring lawsuits against a myriad of news outlets over content he doesn’t agree with.
Whether media outlets lose their licenses isn’t the primary issue raised by Carr’s statements. As Leventoff discussed, this will act as a deterrent for news outlets, forcing them to think twice about what they report on. This is a brazen violation of the First Amendment. It reflects an administration willing to exploit its influence over the media to control what the public is allowed to see about military action abroad.
Like many of the Trump administration’s policies, this is just another attempt to promote policies and values outlined in Project 2025. Project 2025 calls for the defunding of PBS, NPR and VOA. Trump can’t just order outlets such as CNN to shut down, nor can he defund them, the way he can government-funded media.
To compensate for this lack of influence, Trump and Carr are making empty threats, hoping these corporations will back down out of fear. In an era of social media, artificial intelligence videos and rampant misinformation, independent media outlets are a necessity.
If we allow our government to strip us of the freedom of the press and our right to free speech, we will be left stranded in a sea of fabrication, unable to distinguish between reality and the delusion the GOP is advocating for.
As students, we must support those fighting these constitutional violations. Senators like Ed Markey and Jack Rosen recently introduced the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act in an effort to protect freedom of speech for media outlets. Supporting policy meant to protect our media from political weaponization will be the only escape.
James Reed is a freshman studying political science. He can be reached at jcreed@syr.edu.