Does He Listen To Himself?

Carr: We're going to back to that era where local TV stations, judging the public interest, get to decide what the American people think…

I don’t think this is the last shoe to drop… the consequences will continue to flow. pic.twitter.com/UFErQ9ealK

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 18, 2025

Surely the people are sheeple! 🐑 

Carr: If broadcasters don't like that, they can turn their license into the FCC. There are other things we can do with it to serve the national interest… pic.twitter.com/hULjgMJ7Yb

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 18, 2025

The standard is the “public interest,” by the way, and the FCC doesn’t determine what that is; the courts do.

This is not the law, but it is how the FCC explains its duty and authority under the law:

In exchange for obtaining a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” Generally, this means it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license. To do this, each non-exempt station licensee must identify the needs and problems and then specifically treat these local matters in the news, public affairs, political and other programming that it airs

The death of Charlie Kirk, and commentary on the reaction to it, U.S. not solely a “local concern.”

And regarding content:

Broadcasters – not the FCC or any other government agency – are responsible for selecting the material they air. The First Amendment and the Communications Act expressly prohibit the Commission from censoring broadcast matter. Our role in overseeing program content is very limited. We license only individual broadcast stations. We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR, except if those entities are also station licensees. In general, we also do not regulate information provided over the Internet, nor do we intervene in private disputes involving broadcast stations or their licensees. Instead, we usually defer to the parties, courts, or other agencies to resolve these disputes.

a license holder has a property interest in that license, and can defend it against the FCC, if challenged. Given the track record of Trump’s DOJ, that might be worth it to some license holder who isn’t worried about FCC approval of a pending deal.