By Brendan Carr The embrace of media criticism of President Donald Trump reached new heights Tuesday — showing a willingness to target broadcasters’ most valuable assets.
The sudden move by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider the broadcast licenses of Disney’s eight television stations signals an escalation of many of the complaints from conservatives about the giant entertainment company’s diversity policies and the programming on ABC. It was the FCC’s first real step toward carrying out Trump’s repeated threats over the years to revoke the licenses of networks whose programs displeased him.
Carr released an order Tuesday called for “expedited renewal” of the stations’ licenses several years past their due dates — and suggested the action was motivated by Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. The order said the commission is investigating the company for “unlawful discrimination.”
But the announcement came a day after Trump and first lady Melania Trump demanded that Disney-owned ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he made during his show last week.
In a skit previewing last weekend’s White House correspondents’ dinner, Kimmel commented that Melania Trump had “the glow of a pregnant widow” — a comment the president condemned as a “disgusting call to violence” in light of the shootings that erupted later Saturday night at the dinner. Kimmel defended himself on air Monday, saying he was joking about the nearly 24-year age discrepancy between Trump and Trump.
The timing of Tuesday’s order is likely not coincidental, said Jeff Westling, a senior scholar of innovation policy at the International Center for Law and Economics, a think tank focused on market issues.
“I don’t think anyone is really buying (DEI) into making any excuses,” Westling, who once worked for Carr, told Politico. “The real issue here is that the President doesn’t like the coverage, and the FCC is taking action. And that’s not a good thing for free speech.”
An FCC spokesperson said Disney’s content was not a factor in Tuesday’s move, suggesting the decision was made before the recent Kimmel saga: “As the agency’s decision makes clear, the initial renewal order is based on a long-running FCC investigation into Disney’s DEI conduct, not on any speech.”
The spokesperson insisted on being quoted anonymously, in keeping with the Commission’s practice.
Westling called the licensing investigation a notable escalation: In past months, Carr has often launched investigations based on complaints filed by outside groups — such as one from the conservative Center for American Rights who accused “60 Minutes” of news distortion for editing an interview with Kamala Harris. Now the FCC is reopening Disney’s licenses on its own.
Carr’s move was praised by Daniel Suhr, who heads that center and frequently praises the chairman’s actions. “Bravo,” Suhr written on x. “This renewal review is the next right step in bringing transparency and accountability to Disney’s decisions.”
White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked about Carr’s move. Carr’s own usually lively X feed has been quiet since the order was issued.
The eight at-risk stations under FCC review provide a powerful and valuable reach into TV households in America’s largest cities. Six of them are in the top 10 television markets in the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The dynamics of the commission have changed since Trump’s first term, when then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai refused to act on the president’s complaints against the networks. At the time, the Republican chairman said that “under law the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a broadcast station’s license based on the content of a particular newscast.”
However, Carr has said that the Commission has been very reluctant in recent decades to enforce requirements that broadcasters avoid distorting the facts, show political uniformity and otherwise act in the public interest. And he has shown himself eager to harness various levers of FCC power, including using merger-approval reviews to require companies to overrule their diversity practices, or issuing guidance seeking to include candidates from both parties on daytime and late-night talk shows.
Last month, Carr and his staff lifted long-standing media ownership restrictions to approve a $6.2 billion merger between giant TV station owners Nexstar and Tegna — a move that would give those conservative-leaning broadcast executives additional power to contest the programming decisions of networks like ABC.
In a statement Tuesday, Disney defended its ability to maintain its stations’ licenses, saying it is “prepared to demonstrate this through the appropriate legal channels.” But this may take a long battle.
Under Carr’s order, ABC must file its renewal applications by May 28. Carr could then send the issue to an administrative hearing — an often ominous move in the world of communications policy that puts companies in front of the agency’s administrative law judge.
“It takes years,” Andrew J. Schwartzman, an experienced public interest lawyer who is senior counsel at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, said in an interview. “And then I will go to court.”
Schwartzman said the FCC would have leeway to hinder Disney in a number of ways through the proceedings. Potential risks include the FCC renewing the license for an unusually short, probationary period instead of the usual eight-year term.
Schwartzman and other critics of Carr’s agenda – including Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez – often argue that Carr’s steps have little merit, but lament that his opponents have limited legal recourse to challenge his actions.
Any challenge to Carr’s Disney license review would likely have to involve deeper involvement in the regulatory process.
“They don’t really have any defined way to challenge or block it until this whole process, this years-long process,” Schwartzman said. “That’s the thing – the process, the legal expenses, all that. As a matter of law it will never succeed.”
Schwartzman was among the lawyers representing former FCC chairmen, including Reagan-era Chairman Mark Fowler and Obama-era Chairman Tom Wheeler, in Carr’s petition last year to seek to overturn the agency’s decades-old policies against “news distortion,” which he threatened to use against broadcasters he accused of undermining news coverage and misleading their audiences. Group Appeal filed in DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to try to get Carr to formally respond to his proposal. (Carr dismissed the petition x post last November.)
Carr’s use of the power has divided some conservatives who see themselves as champions of free speech. Last time, Senate Commerce Chairman ted cruz (R-Texas) called Carr’s threats to broadcasters “dangerous as hell” after the FCC leader urged ABC and its affiliate stations to “take action” on Kimmel or face possible punishment. ABC suspended Kimmel for six days amid uproar over comments he made about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said shortly before Kimmel’s suspension, calling the host’s comments “really bad.” He said broadcasters “have a license granted by us at the FCC, and with that comes an obligation to serve the public interest.”
This time, Kimmel is on the air, at least for now.
one in video tuesdayHours before the formal FCC license announcement, conservative commentator Glenn Beck argued that the government should not order punishment for Kimmel, even though he believes ABC should fire him. “I don’t like the idea that the president of the United States is saying this,” Beck said. “So that means he’s applying pressure and everything else.”
Meanwhile, Democrats, who have spent months demanding Carr’s resignation, have even more motivation to make his actions a political issue — including during the midterms.
“The First Amendment only works if the government can’t threaten your license to do the content you want,” said Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official who is now running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Virginia. written on x. “Every broadcaster in America is watching.”
The FCC chairman, for his part, is keeping an eye on possible new actions in the coming days. Carr has expressed an interest in making national programming easier for local broadcasters. And he recently raised the possibility of reviving rarely-enforced FCC rules about political fundraising disclosures — an issue that could also ensnare Kimmel, who has raised money for Democrats.
“We are looking into the issue,” Carr told Politico earlier this month. “We are going through the process of making sure people understand the existing FCC case law. And if we need to do something to remind people of it, we can do that.”
