Chicken Little is a minor leaguer compared to the fearmongering voices howling about President-elect Trump’s appointment of Brendan Carr as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Carr is being disparaged by a variety of establishment corporate media outlets and media activist organizations, along with left-of-center politicians and pundits. But among the wide array of appointments being made by the incoming president, Carr stands out as a highly qualified and experienced designee.
Some of Trump’s appointments might be on the curious side, but Carr has a distinguished track record for the position he will assume.
That hasn’t stopped the voices of outrage from claiming, among other things, that Carr is intent on trampling the First Amendment. Progressive news outlet Mother Jones claimed in a headline that Carr “wants to intimidate broadcasters” and is “anti-media.” The left-leaning New Republic blared a shrill headline that Carr constitutes a “terrifying turn” for Trump’s “war with the press.” The fear is that Carr will allow more media consolidation, promote misinformation on social media platforms, squash dissent in the media sphere, and punish media outlets for content he doesn’t approve.
Much of the criticism of Carr stems from his writings in Project 2025, a policy blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation. While many political activists rant about Project 2025 generally, Carr’s contributions regarding the media industry are just boilerplate Republican positions. There is nothing new or particularly surprising in Carr’s plan to scrutinize the power of Big Tech, make broadcasters serve the public interest and reassess net neutrality.
Unlike some of Trump’s appointments, who will be parachuting into their jobs as mavericks and disrupters, Carr has particular qualifications for chairing the FCC. He has already served on the commission for seven years, and prior to that, served as the FCC’s general counsel during the chairmanship of Ajit Pai. Carr earlier worked in the private sector as an attorney in the prestigious law firm of Wiley Rein, specializing in telecommunications policy and litigation. He has also clerked for a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Carr was appointed to his first term at the FCC by Trump, but was re-nominated by President Biden in 2023, and confirmed by a Democrat-controlled Senate. Thus, he comes to his chairmanship role with at least some history of bipartisan support. And if past is prologue, the newly configured FCC will just go about its business as a normal regulatory agency does. The Trump-controlled FCC of the Pai years was not particularly controversial or aggressive, even with Carr as lead counsel and then having a seat on the commission itself.
Carr is much too savvy to step into the straw man quagmires being floated by his shrill detractors. He certainly will not be seeking retribution on Trump’s big media opponents over journalistic content. He knows those news outlets would sprint to the nearest federal judge and win on First Amendment grounds.
The reality is that the FCC has no levers to pull in exacting retribution against Trump’s journalist foes. Print, broadcast network and internet news sources just aren’t content monitored by the FCC. Local over-the-air broadcasters, who are licensed by the FCC, frankly, always have their licenses renewed, and journalistic content is hardly a consideration.
Carr will, and should, raise a judgmental eyebrow when he sees bad behavior by the media, as he did during the presidential campaign. When NBC seemed to initially violate the FCC’s broadcaster equal opportunity political guidelines by giving Kamala Harris free and flattering airtime during Saturday Night Live, Carr was quick to point out the error. NBC eventually fixed the problem by offering comparable time to Trump.
More media corporate mergers and consolidation might well be coming under a Carr FCC, but those would likely have eventually happened regardless of who chairs the commission. The bigger player in that arena is actually the Federal Trade Commission anyway.
No doubt big tech will get plenty of scrutiny when Carr assumes the chair. That matter has been on Carr’s mind for some time. Most Americans agree that big tech platforms should be challenged in terms of their transparency and censorship practices. Citizens will cheer on Carr as he battles what he calls the “censorship cartel.”
Reform of the media landscape is needed and Carr deserves a chance to put his stamp on the FCC as it takes on that reform. Critics need to remember that there will be two Democrats on the five-person FCC to monitor Carr’s agenda. Carr’s critics should not dismiss him just because he is Trump’s choice or because he believes in the public interest standard that holds the media industry accountable.
Carr believes in letting the marketplace work, but also in a traffic cop role for the FCC in which the commission monitors the media world on behalf of regular citizens.
Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant.
