3 Former FCC Chairmen Condemn Brendan Carr’s Threats Targeting Media Outlets

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2025 – Three former chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission have rebuked the FCC’s current chairman, Brendan Carr, over what they called politically motivated probes of companies.

Their concerns were outlined Tuesday in Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter, where they argued that Carr’s actions jeopardize the First Amendment and undermine the FCC’s role as an impartial regulator of the nation’s airwaves. At issue is a series of investigations Carr ordered against media organizations that had previously been critical of President Donald Trump. 

Among them was an inquiry into CBS, based on wild theories surrounding a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, investigations against PBS and NPR in a move presaged by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook, and an investigation against NBCUniversal parent company Comcast over its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Tom Wheeler said that the last investigation was a tipping point for him. The FCC chair under President Barack Obama, Wheeler said, “The fact that they’re saying that because you have a corporate philosophy of inclusion, I will launch an investigation that attacks the fact that your website states this is a ‘core value of our business’ — maybe that was my breaking point.”

Reed Hundt, who served as FCC chair under President Bill Clinton, also weighed in, telling Darcy that the agency “has always been a bulwark against government encroachment on the First Amendment rights of individuals and especially journalists,” adding that its purpose “was to keep it from being used by the executive branch to reward friends and punish enemies.”

Darcy also spoke to Alfred Sikes, FCC chair under George H.W. Bush, who warned that Carr has effectively acted in opposition to the Constitution itself. “The First Amendment is foundational. It should be foundational not just in the Constitution, but in the way the FCC acts,” Sikes said.

Democratic FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez also warned last week Carr was acting outside the FCC’s regulatory authority, and increasingly weaponizing the agency to promote Trump’s media agenda.

Despite the backlash, Carr appears undeterred. 

According to Darcy, Carr initially responded to a request for comment with a meme mocking the fact that only three former chairs had spoken out. He later issued a longer statement, which Darcy published in full, in which he took direct aim at the former chairs.

“I feel bad for the three of them,” Carr said. “I [have to] imagine it’s hard when the curtain is closing on your career and yet you’re still yearning for one more moment in the limelight. I’m glad that you’re helping them out by getting their names in print again.”

Carr has a history of working overtime with trollish posts on social media. 

In the past week alone, he has taken to his X platform to post a picture with Daniel Penny, the man charged with fatally choking Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last May. He also hammered Sen. Adam Schiff and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and took aim at musician Sheryl Crow after she announced that she had sold her Tesla and donated the proceeds to NPR, citing her concerns over Elon Musk’s influence.