On Monday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a complaint against Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr. The filing, sent to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the DC Court of Appeals, alleges that Carr had repeatedly broken basic principles of conduct as a licensed attorney, including by leveraging his power to control media outlets’ speech. As a legal complaint it’s a long shot — but as a document, it sums up months of Carr’s escalating war on free speech.
While the complaint’s examples go back months, Status reports that the FPF’s “tipping point” was Carr’s recent approval of a merger between Paramount and Skydance. It’s a situation that started out sketchy and has somehow managed to look steadily worse.
For months, the FCC let the request languish while Paramount negotiated a specious anti-speech lawsuit from President Donald Trump. Then, Paramount paid Trump $16 million in settlement money — but that wasn’t enough. The merger was approved on the condition that the new company appoint an ombudsman to guarantee it aired viewpoints “across the political and ideological spectrum,” a directive found nowhere in the FCC’s usual rules. Along the way, Paramount subsidiary CBS canceled the show of comedian and Trump critic Stephen Colbert — insisting the decision was purely financial, only to have Carr show up on CNBC and imply it had helped the company comply with FCC law.
“The American people simply do not trust the mainstream media, and for broadcasters — again, different than cable, different than podcasts — for broadcasters, they have a federal license, and they are obligated to operate in the public interest,” Carr said when asked about Colbert’s show ending.
