Weaponization of the F.C.C. is the latest in Trump’s abuses of power
Washington, D.C. — President Trump and Republicans in Congress have expanded their efforts to weaponize our government and its federal agencies, and are now moving to target the free press. Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered an investigation into National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations, and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s brand-new Elon Musk-inspired “DOGE” subcommittee has also launched a probe into the two media outlets. These investigations could potentially even jeopardize the stations’ government funding.
These latest moves come after a series of Trump administration efforts to target media organizations that have reported on Trump and his team unfavorably. The President and his team have sued numerous news outlets since he won the 2024 presidential election, pushing ABC News to pay $15 million and Meta to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits. Now, CBS News is moving closer to settling a similar lawsuit and complying with demands from Trump’s new FCC Chair Brendan Carr to release unedited tapes and transcripts of a pre-election interview with Trump’s political opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Even after CBS released the transcripts, Trump’s new FCC Chair Brendan Carr has continued to attack the outlet over the Harris interview and is even opening a public comment period. Just this morning, Carr went on Fox News to defend his attacks on the free press as “even-handed treatment.”
Trump and his Republican allies have consistently attacked the integrity of the free press, and this latest move to threaten funding for public media is a clear example of his ongoing efforts to exert government overreach.
Read The Latest:
- The New York Times: F.C.C. Chair Orders Investigation Into NPR and PBS Sponsorships
- “The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has waded into the politicized debate over NPR and PBS, ordering up an investigation that he said could be relevant in lawmakers’ decision about whether to continue funding the public news organizations.”
- “The letter is the latest action from President Trump’s allies to target NPR and PBS stations and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a taxpayer-funded organization that backs them. Executives at NPR and PBS stations have been bracing for a potential battle over government funding, gaming out financial worst-case scenarios.”
- The Hill: Trump Turns Up The Heat On Public Broadcasters
- “Recent moves by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Republican lawmakers scrutinizing outlets like NPR and PBS over perceptions of liberal bias and taxpayer funding have highlighted the GOP’s willingness to use the power of the federal government to make life difficult for outlets Trump feels have treated him unfairly.”
- ‘NPR has long been on the receiving end of attacks from conservatives and allies of the current administration. It famously left the social platform X after owner Elon Musk attached an official ‘state media’ label to its account. Musk, who now leads Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, on Monday reiterated calls to ‘defund NPR,’ saying the outlet ‘should survive on its own.’”
- Politico: NPR And PBS First Target In MTG’s DOGE Crosshairs
- “The new House subcommittee designed to complement the work of Elon Musk has named its first target: the nonprofit news media. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s “Delivering on Government Efficiency” Subcommittee — or DOGE, mimicking its Musk-run analogue, the Department of Government Efficiency — is asking the leaders of PBS and NPR to testify next month.”
- “The fight over funding for public broadcasting is nearly as old as the system itself and largely falls along party lines, with conservative budget hawks calling for elimination of federal support and Democrats backing the free news services that reach millions across the country.”
- Common Dreams: FCC Probe Into NPR, PBS Denounced as ‘Attack on the Freedom of the Press’
- “U.S. press freedom advocates this week forcefully condemned Republican Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s investigation into National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service that could lead to stripping them of government funding.”
- “The two Democratic members of the FCC have also responded critically to Carr’s move. Commissioner Anna Gomez said that ‘this appears to be yet another administration effort to weaponize the power of the FCC. The FCC has no business intimidating and silencing broadcast media.’ Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said that ‘public television and radio stations play a significant role in our media ecosystem. Any attempt to intimidate these local media outlets is a threat to the free flow of information and the marketplace of ideas. The announcement of this investigation gives me serious concern.’”
- Just Security: Connecting the Dots: Trump’s Tightening Grip on Press Freedom
- “Taken together though, these signs should be appreciated for what they are: a concerted push to align the U.S. information ecosystem with Trump’s entrenched view that the independent media is ‘truly the enemy of the people,’ and that it must be replaced with information sources aligned with his personal views and under the control of himself and his allies.”
- “Today, public broadcasting reaches almost 99 percent of the American public with free programming. Threatening the continued operation of public broadcasting is another sign of Trump’s interest in bringing the information ecosystem further under his control.”
- Media Matters For America: Trump Is Trying To Throttle The Free Press — and U.S. Moguls Are Going Along With It
- “Carr authored Project 2025’s chapter on the FCC and has notably refused to reject Trump’s repeated calls for the commission to yank the licenses of broadcast networks whose reporting he dislikes
- “Following his promotion, Carr sent a letter to Bob Iger, the CEO of ABC parent company Disney, in which he denounced the network for having ‘contributed’ to the ‘erosion in public trust’ and pointedly referenced the FCC’s regulatory power.”
- “Carr also restored a right-wing group’s bias complaints targeting NBC, CBS, and ABC for purportedly biased coverage of the presidential campaign, which his predecessor had dismissed. In response to the CBS complaint, the FCC demanded that CBS News provide the unedited transcript and tapes of Harris’ 60 Minutes interview, adding government pressure to the benefit of Trump’s private lawsuit.”
- “And on Wednesday, Carr announced a new FCC probe of underwriting announcements produced by NPR and PBS, ‘with an eye toward unraveling federal funding for all public broadcasting.’”