Brendan Carr says his broadcast license threat wasn’t really about Iran war coverage

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr never meant to threaten broadcast licenses over their coverage of the war in Iran, he told reporters after an event hosted by FGS and Semafor.

“My comments weren’t actually on the Iran war,” Carr said in response to a question from The Verge about his statement regarding coverage of the war. “I understand why people say that. I made a statement quoting a tweet.”

On March 14th, Carr quote-tweeted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump, who had bemoaned “an intentionally misleading headline” related to the US military action in the Middle East. “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr tweeted in response. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” His comments were widely reported as a threat over negative war news coverage.

Carr previously warned broadcasters they could lose station licenses over airing late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, and Disney briefly pulled him from the air after the comments, which Carr has since defended and denied were ever a threat. At the event on Thursday, Carr said he had no plans to pull broadcast licenses. “You never know, but I don’t have plans,” he said. “Maybe we will, maybe we won’t, as the big guy would say.”

“The only thing we’ve ever talked about pulling broadcast licenses are for operators that aren’t operating in the public interest, that are doing broadcast hoax, news distortion,” he said. “As long as you’re not doing that, you can cover anything any way you want.”

Carr has been heartened to see platforms like X and Meta change their policies in ways he views as more fair. “That sort of course correction in the market has resulted in a decrease in a lot of the sort of calls for regulatory intervention,” he said during the on-stage interview with Semafor’s Rohan Goswami. While speaking with reporters after, Carr said he’s “sort of stopped talking about free speech” on tech platforms while chair of the agency, claiming “people get confused” about what he sees as “apples and oranges” issues of internet platforms’ policies, and broadcasters’, whose licenses are regulated by the FCC. The agency recently approved a merger of NextStar and Tegna, which would make the company reach 80 percent of US TV households, beyond the 39 percent ownership limit.

The need for regulation of tech platforms has simmered as what Carr views as “bad conduct” has diminished. Asked if it’s a content-based regulation if the need for it changes based on what platforms choose to moderate, Carr said it’s still all about conduct. “It’s when you have market power, or when you abuse that market power in a way that stifles individual liberty, I think that potentially creates the basis for regulation.”

Asked on stage whether he’s weaponized the tools at his disposal as he’s accused Democrats of doing, Carr said he’s chosen a simple approach. “Why don’t we just apply the law in a neutral, even handed way? Which is what I think that we’re doing here.”