Brendan Carr Is Turning the FCC Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine

The formal agenda of the Federal Communications Commission's April open meeting seemed well in line with its normal wonky pursuits. Commissioners spoke, proposals were voted on unanimously, and Chairman Brendan Carr, appointed by President Trump, ran things smoothly, though his demeanor was rather boisterous. An observer might conclude that despite the new administration, it was business as usual at the FCC. Then came the regular press Q&A. The beat journalists politely probed the Chairman about recent moves he’d made—like using the power of his role to investigate news organizations for airing stories that make President Trump unhappy. Chairman Carr’s response to questions about his probe into CBS was: “All options remain on the table,” even the “death penalty” of the network’s broadcast license. He also indicated that NBC and the other networks that have covered the case of the legal immigrant mistakenly deported to an El Salvadorian prison might be in similar trouble. His justification was that since broadcast outlets have exclusive access to their slice of public airwaves, their content must be in the public interest. If they don’t like that, he said, they can be podcasters. The trouble with this—well, there are a lot of troubles with this—is that it’s obvious that “the public interest” here is being interpreted as “stuff President Trump likes.”