Government officials should never be in the business of deciding what jokes or news Americans can hear.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency created by Congress and required by law to operate in the public interest. It should be immune from day-to-day political pressures from a president or other elected officials.
The Trump administration moved to dismantle that independence from the start: A February 2025 executive order sought to place the FCC under direct White House control giving the president authority over the very agency that controls broadcast licenses.
The Trump administration and FCC chair Brendan Carr have since used the agency to investigate and threaten media figures and companies they see as critics of the administration.
The FCC has:
- Investigated NPR and PBS with the goal of stripping their funding1
- Opened an investigation into CBS's 60 Minutes over its interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris2
- Pressured ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel who brought him back only after public outrage3
- Opened an investigation into The View over an appearance with a Democratic candidate, reversing a long held precedent allowing such appearances4
- Ordered an early license review for ABC's broadcast stations after a joke about Melania Trump aired5
- Threatened to crack down on broadcasters over their coverage of the U.S. war in Iran6
This is not regulation. It's intimidation. And it has a direct chilling effect on our media. When a broadcaster has to second guess what it airs to avoid coming into the crosshairs of the government, we do not have a free press.
Tell Congress to step in now, stop this weaponization, and re-establish the agency's independence before it's too late.