Since its inception in the Communications Act of 1934,the Federal Communications Commission has had a broad mandate to act in “the public interest”-the phrase appears dozens of times in the agency’s organic statute. But during the second Trump administration, the commission, which Congress established as a multi-member, independent agency led by Republican and Democratic appointees, has been one of the arms of government that has taken a central role in policing broadcasters, news organizationsand public stations that don’t fall in line with Donald Trump‘s worldview and policy priorities.
Under Chairman Brendan Carr‘s vision, the public interest is closely tied to Trump’s interests.In their eight months in office, Trump and Carr have gone after public media and private broadcasters alike, including ABC News and CBS News-singling them out to criticize and investigate, while Trump has secured settlements from both organizations. Jimmy Kimmel‘s indefinite suspension from the ABC airwaves following a monologue in which he criticized Trumpland’s reaction to the killing of Charlie Kirk is only the latest episode to