FCC Chair Fires Warning Shot At Broadcasters Amid Barrage of Trump Administration Complaints About Iran Coverage

(Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr threatened pulling the licenses of broadcasters pushing “fake news” on Saturday following President Donald Trump and others complaining about media coverage of the current war with Iran.

In a Saturday X post, Carr, a vocal critic of the media, included a Truth Social message from Trump complaining about “misleading” coverage on Iran.

“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,” the president wrote.

Trump said the strike in question occurred days ago and four of the five planes had “virtually no damage.”

Trump accused The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal of wanting the U.S. to “lose” the war.

“The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife “Papers” and Media actually want us to lose the War. Their terrible reporting is 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,” he wrote.

Carr followed that up with his own message directly to the media.

He wrote:

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.

The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.

And frankly, changing course is in their own business interests since trust in legacy media has now fallen to an all time low of just 9% and are ratings disasters.

The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves.

Carr declared it’s “time for a change” in the post.

The president also complained in his string of media attack posts that outlets don’t like reporting on how “well” the U.S. is doing with their Iran strikes.

Other administration officials have also lobbed complaints at the media over coverage of the war, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accusing the media of exploiting coverage of American deaths to make the president “look bad.”

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