Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr on Saturday threatened to revoke broadcast licenses after President Trump complained about how some networks are covering the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation in Iran.
“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,” Carr wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” he warned.
Carr’s threat quickly drew criticism, including from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who called it “straight out of the authoritarian playbook.”
Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior officials have repeatedly slammed the media’s coverage of the conflict, which entered a third week on Saturday.
“The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife “Papers” and Media actually want us to lose the War,” Trump wrote in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social. “Their terrible reporting is the exact opposite of the actual facts!”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that five U.S. Air Force refueling planes had recently been struck and damaged by an Iranian missile at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, citing two U.S. officials.
Trump hammered the newspaper for what he described as an “intentionally misleading headline,” saying four of the five tankers had “virtually no damage, and are already back in service,” while one suffered “slightly more damage.”
“None were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said headlines,” he wrote.
The criticism came a day after the White House blasted CNN for a report stating that the Trump administration had underestimated the impact of the war with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows daily.
CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson defended the outlet’s coverage in a statement, saying the network “stand[s] by our journalism.”
“Politicians have an obvious motive for claiming that journalism which raises questions about their decisions is false. At CNN our only interest is in telling the truth to our audiences in the U.S. and around the world and no amount of political threats or insults is going to change that,” Thompson said.
The administration also took issue with CNN broadcasting portions of a statement from Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, that was read aloud on Iranian state TV.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, said on Friday morning.
Hegseth was also unhappy with the press for highlighting the deaths of six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait in the early days of the conflict, accusing the media of trying to “make the president look bad.”
Carr’s threats to crack down on media coverage critical of Trump by revoking licenses or exerting other regulatory pressure is not new, having accused outlets multiple times of engaging in “distortion.”
