FCC has not revoked a broadcast license in more than 40 years
President Donald Trump this week called on the Federal Communications Commission to “rebuke or punish” NBC News anchor Kristin Welker over remarks in which she described his endorsement record as “mixed.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that “The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation,” asked that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and “the fine people of his Commission” act, and added: “FCC to the rescue.”
Welker’s comment was delivered in analytical remarks to a Washington affiliate station ahead of Sunday’s Meet the Press. The Hill reported that Trump “boasts a 100 percent record in Senate Republican primary contests this election cycle” while “several of his high-profile gubernatorial picks have lost.” Trump rejected Welker’s framing in the post, calling her characterization “purposeful inaccuracy.”
Trump directed his appeal at Carr by name. According to Margaret Sullivan, writing in The Guardian this week, Carr “seems to embrace without embarrassment the role of Trump’s media attack dog” and has previously warned that he would use the FCC’s broadcast-licensing authority against outlets he and Trump label “fake news.” The FCC, which is statutorily structured as an independent agency, has tilted heavily toward Trump’s Republican Party during his second term, Sullivan wrote.
ABC has separately sued the FCC over the agency’s early-stage review of eight local broadcast licenses, charging the action violates the First Amendment. The Washington Post, as cited by Sullivan, observed that while the FCC has limited authority to revoke stations’ broadcast licenses, it has not done so in over 40 years and has no power to revoke licenses over a disagreement with the viewpoint expressed on the station.
Sullivan tied the dispute to a documented pattern, writing that the attack on Welker “brings together some of his favorite techniques — trashing a Black female journalist, cracking down on free speech in apparent violation of First Amendment protections, and using what should be an independent government body (including, of course, the justice department) to carry out his retaliation efforts.” During his first term, Trump targeted Yamiche Alcindor of PBS, April Ryan of American Urban Radio, and Abby Phillip of CNN, according to Sullivan.
Trump had earlier targeted Welker herself. During an interview earlier this year, Trump told her: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” according to Sullivan’s account.
The clash follows other recent administration moves against press access. Sullivan reported that the White House has barred reporters from three major news organizations from covering G20 meetings and that top journalists at Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper known for its independence, have been fired.
NBC has “staunchly defended Welker,” according to Sullivan. If the FCC nonetheless attempts to act against Welker or NBC, Sullivan wrote, “there’s a solid First Amendment case to be made in response. NBC, which has staunchly defended Welker, is likely to make it.”
Sullivan concluded that Welker “did nothing wrong, not in terms of the facts and not in terms of her journalistic role.” The broader fight, in Sullivan’s framing, fits an established pattern in which “Trump’s reality has turned sour, so he certainly doesn’t want that reality reflected in the news media.”