In President Donald J. Trump’s ongoing campaign against perceived media bias, one figure has emerged as a potent ally: Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This month, Carr targeted Comcast, the parent company of NBC and MSNBC, accusing the cable giant of skewed news coverage in a post on X.
Carr’s criticism centered on Comcast’s reporting about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member—a charge Abrego Garcia denies. The administration has defied a federal judge’s order to return him to the United States, escalating tensions with the judiciary. Carr alleged that Comcast’s outlets, including NBC and MSNBC, misrepresented Abrego Garcia as a “law-abiding U.S. citizen” and a “Maryland man,” misleading the public. “News distortion doesn’t cut it,” Carr wrote.
Days later, a conservative legal group filed a petition echoing Carr’s claims, urging the FCC, which oversees broadcast licenses, to investigate whether NBC, ABC, and CBS distorted facts in their coverage of Abrego Garcia. The episode underscores Carr’s evolution from a reserved communications policy expert to a combative figure in Trump’s culture wars.
Since assuming the FCC chairmanship in January 2025, Carr, 46, has repeatedly confronted the corporate owners of ABC, CBS, and NBC—networks frequently criticized by Trump. Last fall, Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against CBS, alleging that edits to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris were manipulated to favor her. Trump called for CBS to lose its broadcast licenses. Carr responded by launching an FCC inquiry into whether the edits constituted “news distortion,” ordering CBS to provide raw footage of the interview. The outtakes, which CBS supplied, showed Harris was quoted accurately, supporting the network’s claim of editorial integrity. Nonetheless, the controversy has disrupted CBS’s owner, Paramount Global, and delayed its proposed sale to Skydance Media. Last week, the executive producer of “60 Minutes” resigned, citing corporate pressures that he said undermined editorial independence.
Paramount, in a statement, described the FCC inquiry and Trump’s lawsuit as distinct matters and declined further comment. The FCC and a representative for Carr did not respond to requests for comment.
Conservatives argue that major networks exhibit liberal bias, eroding public trust in journalism. They point to Gallup polls showing trust in national media at historic lows, with only 31% of Americans expressing confidence in 2024. Carr, in a March interview with Punchbowl News, criticized the FCC for neglecting its mandate to ensure broadcasters serve the public interest. “If a broadcaster has a problem with that, the FCC address is 45 L Street, Northeast,” he said. “They can give us their licenses back.”
Critics, however, warn that Carr’s actions threaten press freedom. Blair Levin, a former FCC official and analyst, questioned Carr’s authority to dictate news coverage. “Are you now the person deciding what news should cover?” Levin asked. “I don’t see that in the law.”
Established in 1934, the FCC regulates communications, including broadcast spectrum, and is designed to operate independently with a bipartisan structure: three commissioners from the president’s party and two from the opposition. A fifth commissioner, a Trump nominee, awaits Senate confirmation. While the commission has collaborated on issues like robocalls and spectrum-sharing, Carr’s agenda has sparked partisan divides.
Carr’s conservative credentials are deep-rooted. Raised in the Washington, D.C., area, he is the son of a lawyer who once represented President Richard M. Nixon. A graduate of Georgetown University and Catholic University’s law school, Carr met his wife, Machalagh, at the latter. She served as chief of staff to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and now heads global policy at Palantir Technologies, the data analytics firm backed by Peter Thiel. The couple is a fixture in Washington’s conservative elite.
Carr gained prominence in 2023 by authoring the FCC section of Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint for a second Trump term. His 15-page chapter focused on reining in Big Tech, promoting national security, and expanding commercial spectrum auctions—priorities aligned with figures like Elon Musk, whose Starlink satellite network benefits from spectrum access. Notably, the chapter omitted any mention of news bias.
As chairman, Carr has embraced Trump’s agenda. He joined Trump and Musk at a SpaceX rocket launch in Texas in November 2024, visited Mar-a-Lago, and traveled on Air Force One. In a recent photo, he wore a gold-colored lapel pin shaped like Trump’s head. Carr has called for defunding public radio and television and made eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs his first priority, sending letters to the chief executives of Disney, Comcast, and Verizon demanding they dismantle such initiatives. He also opened investigations into the companies’ DEI policies, none of which commented for this article.
Carr has leveraged the FCC’s authority to influence corporate behavior, threatening to block mergers—like Verizon’s $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications—unless firms eliminate DEI programs. “He’s making these powerful companies jump,” said Gigi Sohn, a former FCC lawyer and senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. “They’re reluctant to challenge the FCC for fear of future retaliation.”
Carr justifies his actions by citing low public trust in media. In a December 2024 letter to Disney’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, he wrote, “More Americans trust gas station sushi than the legacy national media,” a quip he repeated on X.
Carr’s approach marks a departure from his earlier tenure. In 2017, as a commissioner, he emphasized bipartisan consensus. In 2021, he opposed Democratic calls to remove Fox News from cable bundles after the January 6 Capitol attack, stating that newsroom decisions “should be beyond the reach of any government official.” Yet at a Free State Foundation conference this spring, Carr acknowledged his “hard-charging” start, citing the brevity of FCC chairmanships as motivation to act decisively.
Some observers speculate that Carr will intensify his efforts once Olivia Trusty, the third Republican commissioner, is confirmed. Tom Wheeler, a former FCC chairman, described Carr as “incredibly talented” and “politically savvy,” but cautioned that his actions—taken without full commission votes—appear designed to evade judicial oversight. In a recent editorial, Wheeler argued that Carr’s investigations and threats undermine the FCC’s independence.
Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to reinforce the FCC’s nonpartisan mandate and prohibit it from suppressing viewpoints or intimidating broadcasters. Recent court rulings, however, suggest limits to Carr’s authority. This month, an appeals court overturned a $57 million fine imposed by Carr’s predecessor on AT&T, ruling that the FCC exceeded its jurisdiction.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, argued that complaints about NBC’s coverage of Abrego Garcia do not meet the legal threshold for “news distortion.” “This is part of a pattern of bullying to control and censor,” Gomez said. “These actions violate the First Amendment and our statutes.”
As Carr navigates his high-profile role, the tension between his regulatory authority and the principles of press freedom remains unresolved, raising questions about the FCC’s role in an increasingly polarized media landscape.
The post How Brendan Carr, Trump’s FCC chair, is rattling media giants appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
