As the three members of the Federal Communications Commission head to the Hill Wednesday for their first joint appearance before the Senate Commerce Committee, all eyes will be on Chairman Brendan Carr.
The energetic agency head blazed a trail of MAGA media policy, reinvigorated the public-interest doctrine, destroyed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at Fortune 500 companies, and combated foreign influence on America’s communications infrastructure.
His high-profile clashes with major media figures like Jimmy Kimmel and his close alliance with President Donald Trump have made him a hero on the right and a villain on the left.
All this will make for a more interesting hearing than the usual senatorial snoozefest over spectrum allocation.
In an administration with several big personalities, Carr stands out for his no-nonsense competence.
After years of laboring in the agency as a staffer, general counsel, and minority commissioner, Carr came in with a clear sense of how to use the powers of his office—both formal and informal—to move policy.
Carr arrived in the chairman’s suite in January 2025 and immediately reinstated three complaints filed by my law firm, the Center for American Rights, alleging media bias by major networks. He shortly thereafter pried the transcript of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ disastrous “60 Minutes” interview out of CBS.
He next moved to confront DEI at the Fortune 500 companies holding licenses from the commission, enforcing longstanding rules against discrimination by licensees.
In the past year, T-Mobile, Verizon, Paramount, and AT&T have all ended their DEI practices at the chairman’s behest.
Seeing through David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount was a major achievement for the chairman.
In addition to ending DEI, Ellison pledged to bring greater viewpoint diversity to both news and entertainment and to embrace “American storytelling” as a top priority. This paved the way for Bari Weiss to come aboard as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
The changes at Paramount are emblematic of broader shifts in the media landscape.
Democrats and some conservatives have cried foul at times, saying that Carr’s increasingly vigorous oversight infringes on core First Amendment values.
I’ve defended his approach. The chairman’s job regulating broadcasting means protecting core components of the public-interest standard, like localism and viewpoint diversity.
As Carr and his colleagues Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez join the Commerce Committee, some senators will likely grandstand on behalf of Hollywood. They’ll focus on making Kimmel the martyr for free speech, while ignoring the actually martyred Charlie Kirk.
Expect Carr to push back by noting the important role that ABC affiliates, advertisers, and viewers played in prompting Disney’s decision—Kimmel’s trenchant refusal to apologize or backtrack didn’t help either.
Democrats will also likely focus on pending mergers among broadcasters, including Nexstar’s agreed acquisition of Tegna and Sinclair’s bid for E.W. Scripps.
Twenty-two Republican senators signed a letter earlier this year supporting reform of the FCC’s rules capping station ownership; 22 Democrat senators joined a 2018 letter opposing that reform when former Chairman Ajit Pai considered it.
Carr is unlikely to make any firm commitments on ownership, given the fact these are open proceedings. A strong coalition of free-market advocacy groups, including mine, support the broadcasters in their bid for regulatory relief.
Senators may also raise issues like broadband deployment and Elon Musk’s Starlink, but the topline story coming out of the hearing will be how Carr fares in positioning himself as the champion for media reform and accountability. On that count, his record speaks for itself—he is consistently delivering big wins for the president’s agenda.
