Trump Calls for CNN Firings; Carr Says FCC Lacks Role in Cable Newsrooms
President Donald Trump made repeated calls on social media this week for reporters from CNN and the New York Times to be fired over their reporting on the U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear program Sunday. “FAKE NEWS REPORTERS FROM CNN & THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY!!! BAD PEOPLE WITH EVIL INTENTIONS!!!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
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Speaking at a news conference Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the FCC can’t police cable channels' newsrooms but has such authority over broadcasters. He was responding to a question about how he reconciles the FCC’s news distortion proceeding against CBS with his 2021 letter excoriating Democratic lawmakers for sending letters targeting conservative cable news channels. He wasn't asked about Trump's posts. “I think it's entirely consistent to say there's a very different role for the FCC with respect to cable channels, which is again the party in the context of that [2021 statement], and the licensed broadcasters,” Carr said Thursday. In 2021, he wrote that “a newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.”
In other posts this week, Trump said that “the Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!” and that he had heard that the reporters would be fired.
On Tuesday night, Trump posted that CNN was “DISGUSTING AND INCOMPETENT” and employed “SOME OF THE DUMBEST ANCHORS IN THE BUSINESS!” He also called for CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand’s firing. “She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog.’” CNN didn’t immediately comment.