The CAR allegations were dismissed in January 2025 by then-FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and later revived by Carr following Trump’s appointment of him to the chairmanship. Carr has persistently accused news outlets of distortion, particularly when he threatened to revoke licenses from ABC stations airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
Amid the Kimmel issue, Carr stated he aimed “to empower local TV stations to meet the needs of their communities.” The FCC then initiated a proceeding called, “Empowering Local Broadcast TV Stations to Meet Their Public Interest Obligations: Exploring Market Dynamics Between National Programmers and Their Affiliates.”
The FCC sought public input on the potential adoption of regulations “due to market changes that have resulted in anticompetitive leverage and behavior by major networks.” This could mean restricting specific contract terms in agreements between networks and affiliate stations and bolstering local stations’ rights to refuse national programming.
FCC faces backlash over media critiques
The “Empowering Local Broadcast TV Stations” proceeding is where the Center for American Rights provided its feedback. In addition to referencing NPR and PBS, the organization claimed that national networks “indoctrinate the American populace from their left-leaning viewpoint.”
“The persistent bias on ABC’s The View, for example, informs women in red states who supported President Trump that they are accountable for electing an autocratic ruler,” the Center for American Rights stated.
The FCC proceeding received feedback yesterday from the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), which condemned Carr’s conflict with the media. “The Public Notice presents this proceeding as an initiative to ‘empower local broadcasters’ in their negotiations with national networks. However… recent FCC actions have threatened to wield regulatory power not to foster independent journalism, but to sway newsroom behavior, restrict editorial decisions, and promote outcomes that align with the personal or political agendas of elected officials,” the NHMC remarked.
The organization expressed its support for “authentic local journalism and healthy competition,” but added:
regulations that alter the balance of power among station groups, networks, and newsrooms cannot be viewed separately from the larger regulatory framework in which they function. Numerous recent interventions by the Commission—including coercive conditions tied to the Skydance/Paramount transaction, and illegal threats made to ABC and its affiliate stations in September demanding the removal of Jimmy Kimmel’s show from broadcasting—demonstrate how regulatory mechanisms can be utilized in ways that jeopardize media independence and risk political meddling in programming and editorial choices.
