FCC chair Brendan Carr warns broadcasters must 'correct course' on 'news distortions' before license renewals

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr issued a warning to the media on Saturday calling on networks to "correct course" before their license renewals come up. 

"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," he wrote on X, in response to a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump about coverage of the war in Iran. "The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not."

He went on, "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."

In his Truth Social post, Trump took issue with reporting from newspapers about tanker planes and said the claim that they were "struck" and "destroyed" was untrue. 

Carr appeared to reference the controversy surrounding CBS and Stephen Colbert in his statement on X. Colbert interviewed Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico and did not air the interview on the show, citing pushback from CBS.

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CBS said that it did not stop Colbert from airing the Talarico interview, which the late-night host posted to the show's YouTube channel, and said the show just needed to offer equal time to his then-opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. Crockett placed the blame on CBS and Colbert, who she said did not offer equal time, rather than the government.

Talarico placed blame squarely on Trump and the FCC.

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"When a political candidate is able to win a landslide election victory after in the face of hoaxes and distortions, there is something very wrong. It means the public has lost faith and confidence in the media. And we can't allow that to happen," Carr wrote in his post on Saturday.

Talarico defeated Crockett in the Democratic primary after raising millions following the Colbert interview.

Trump's post to Truth Social, which Carr responded to with the threats, called out The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal specifically over misleading headlines.

"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. In actuality, the Base was hit a few days ago, but the planes were not "struck" or "destroyed." Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service. One had slightly more damage, but will be in the air shortly. None were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said in headlines," the president wrote.