The FCC’s investigation of iHeartMedia over payola (see 2502240070) was sparked by requests made to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., by “musicians and band members,” she told FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday's episode of her podcast, Unmuted With Marsha. “In Tennessee, we've got a lot of people that play in bands and spend a lot of time on the road,” said Blackburn, who, in part, represents country music center Nashville. She responded to the request by sending a letter to Carr, who, in turn, sent one to iHeart. “A radio station can't secretly exchange free performances from musicians or bands in exchange for better airplay on the radio,” Carr said. “And the evidence we've seen suggests that in fact, that has been happening significantly.” Blackburn said, “To some of the band members for the big-name musicians, expenses is one thing, but payment for the show is another.”
The FCC is "moving at breakneck speed" and "really swinging for the fences" since the start of the Trump administration, Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday at Incompas' Policy Summit. Carr reiterated his "pretty aggressive agenda," which includes addressing media issues, reining in Big Tech, pushing initiatives that will "spur economic growth," and supporting national security and public safety.
FCC leadership, including Chairman Brendan Carr, is already closely aligned with President Donald Trump's agenda, lessening the effect of the president's executive order about increasing White House control over independent agencies like the FCC, Davis Wright attorneys blogged Monday. Carr's FCC will likely follow Trump's agenda and priorities in practice, regardless of the theoretical independence of commissioners, Davis Wright said. But an issue could arise that sees Republican-appointed commissioners splitting with Trump on key issues, it said. In that case, the level of presidential control over the FCC's agenda and whether Trump can remove commissioners over policy disagreements "may have serious practical consequences."
Broadcast ownership rules are helping strangle local news and must go, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview last week on Nexstar's NewsNation. "We need to let some of these broadcasters get to scale so they can hire the local reporters," Carr said. Asked about regulating Big Tech, he said the agency is "taking a look at a lot of different options," including reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The FCC could also play a role in "bring[ing] some greater transparency" to Big Tech, Carr added.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday that staffing changes are coming to the FCC and that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is likely headed to the agency. Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez warned about the Donald Trump administration’s continuing moves against the federal workforce. Commissioners agreed on three wireless items (see 2502270042) and Calm Act rules at the meeting, as well as taking additional steps on robocalls.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s criticism of potential FCC action on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act “would be more credible” if she had ever expressed concern or regret about former President Joe Biden’s administration “bullying” social media companies, said Free State Foundation CEO Randolph May in a blog post Tuesday. Any FCC action on 230 “would be done in an open manner and be subject to public scrutiny,” May wrote. “Of course, this is much different than the hidden behind closed door efforts of the Biden administration that took place via private emails and telephone conversations.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s rolling back of Chevron deference also means courts “likely won’t simply defer to the FCC’s views,” he said. “I would find Ms. Gomez['s] professions of alarm regarding her claims of ‘bullying’ more persuasive had she sounded the alarm bells regarding the previous administration's content suppression efforts.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s warning letters to media companies are “a new and coercive technique” for agency action “without needing to follow the niceties of commission votes and judicial review,” and an agency opinion on tech platform liability would likely follow the same pattern, wrote former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a post Tuesday for the Brookings Institution. Rather than aiming at the deregulation often emphasized by conservatives, Carr is increasing the regulatory reach of the FCC “to attack corporate decisions he and [President] Donald Trump do not like,” Wheeler said. “Acting through coercion rather than regulation appears to be a workaround of the limits placed on agency authority by recent Supreme Court decisions sought by conservatives.” Rather than using agency processes to investigate matters and build a record, Carr is “unilaterally reaching a conclusion” and initiating enforcement proceedings, Wheeler said. “While this may be possible under the agency’s procedures, the result is anything but procedural and transparent.”
An FCC advisory opinion on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would be “a fool's errand” and should be “DOA,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said Sunday in a thread on X responding to a New York Post report that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is planning to act on 230 soon. “The FCC should not be in the business of controlling online speech,” Gomez said. “Congress and the courts must quickly step in to stop this unlawful power grab.”
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland, other panel Democrats and Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron used a Wednesday hearing aimed at reviewing instances of claimed Biden administration censorship to lambaste Republican FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for ordering a string of investigations against U.S. broadcasters. The probes, launched since Carr took office Jan. 20, thus far focus on broadcasters that have aired content critical of President Donald Trump or otherwise face claims of pro-Democratic Party bias, though Carr has, in some cases, framed the scrutiny as focused on other matters (see 2502110063). House Judiciary Democrats also sharply criticized X owner Elon Musk for actions on the social media platform that they view as censorship of anti-Trump content.
Comcast confirmed Tuesday that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement Bureau to launch a probe of its and subsidiary NBCUniversal’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs to determine if they violate equal employment opportunity laws. The move is Carr’s latest foray against U.S. broadcasters, including probes of CBS, NPR and PBS (see 2502050063 and 2501300065), since he became FCC chairman Jan. 20. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., railed against the FCC and other federal agencies Tuesday for collectively “waging a relentless war on online speech and independent journalism” in the weeks since President Donald Trump returned to office last month.