Brendan Carr, the communications licensing chief of the Trump administration, issued a stern warning to the US broadcasting sector on Saturday, stating that he may revoke the spectrum permits of broadcasters who he described as promoting “hoaxes and news distortions”.
Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), shared on social media that broadcasters disseminating “fake news” have an opportunity to amend their practices before their license renewals. He emphasized, “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
The threat he posed elicited a response from US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called the threat an unlawful intimidation of free speech and referred to the action as being “straight out of the authoritarian playbook”.
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Trump tears into NYT, WSJ over ‘misleading’ coverage
The FCC oversees the electromagnetic spectrum, commonly referred to as the airwaves, which encompasses “commercial and non-commercial fixed and mobile wireless services, broadcast television and radio, satellite and other services” as stipulated in the Communications Act of 1934.
Carr’s warning comes in the context of ongoing grievances expressed by Trump and his officials regarding their portrayal by what they dismissively refer to as “the mainstream media,” as well as what they perceive as unfavorable or unpatriotic reporting on the situation in Iran.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump complained about “misleading” coverage amid the US’ ongoing operation in Iran. Carr copies the President’s post, in which Trump wrote: on Saturday, “Yet again, an intentionally misleading headline by the Fake News Media about the five tanker planes that were supposedly struck down at an Airport in Saudi Arabia, and of no further use.”
Trump specifically mentioned the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in his post, asserting that they “and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War,” describing the reporting from these outlets as “the exact opposite of the actual facts!”
“They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America,” the POTUS said.
Is US losing Iran war narrative?
A CNN survey revealed that 59 percent of American citizens are against the war. Support for the US military action in Iran stands at 27-38 percent, which is considerably lower than previous US military engagements, such as the Afghanistan war, which had support levels of 88-92 percent; the Gulf War of 1991, at 79-80 percent; the Iraq war of 2003, with 70-76 percent; and the Libya war of 2011, at 47 percent. Even among Republicans, support is at 76 percent, in contrast to the 96 percent of Republicans who supported the Afghanistan war and the 90 percent who backed the Iraq war.