Free Press Launches Mobile Protest of Trump’s Censorship Czar

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Free Press protested Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s unconstitutional and escalating campaign to censor and control any media that displeases President Donald Trump. Throughout the day, a mobile billboard labeling Carr the “Censorship Czar” circled key locations in Washington, D.C., including FCC headquarters and Capitol Hill. 

The billboard stood outside FCC headquarters on Thursday as Carr convened the agency’s monthly open meeting. Protesters gathered outside with duct tape covering their mouths while wearing “Censorship Czar” t-shirts. The protest was in response to the chairman’s relentless threats of regulatory sanctions and investigations — including the possible denial of broadcast licenses — of media outlets that don’t adhere to the White House’s authoritarian agenda. 

Getty images of the billboard and protest  are available at this link. 

‘Dangerous as hell’
Carr’s FCC recently approved without scrutiny Nexstar Media’s bid to take over Tegna Inc., a merger that would form the largest broadcast conglomerate in U.S. history. To help win Carr’s approval, Nexstar conceded to political pressure from the FCC, including its decision last December to suspend Jimmy Kimmel on its ABC affiliates after Trump complained about the comedian on social media. If the merger goes through, Nexstar would reach 80 percent of U.S. households — more than twice the audience reach allowed under U.S. law.

Carr’s abuse of his role at the agency has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. During an interview with Politico on Wednesday, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz said Carr shouldn’t have rushed through approval of the controversial merger. Cruz had previously called Carr’s attempts to censor ABC affiliates “dangerous as hell.” 

‘Clearly illegal’
“In approving the Nexstar-Tegna merger, Chairman Carr managed to threaten free speech, gut media ownership laws and trample due process — all in one deal, all behind closed doors,” said former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “That’s not deregulation. That’s the definition of unchecked government power. The state attorneys general taking action to stop it are right to sue against this clearly illegal deal.”

After the FCC announced its approval of the merger, Free Press joined with allies in a number of legal challenges to the decision. In addition, eight state attorneys general joined an antitrust suit to block the merger.

‘Public interest be damned’
“When Carr was first an FCC commissioner during the Biden administration, he bemoaned government overreach,” said Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron. “But he did an about-face as soon as he was handed the chairman’s gavel, showing us what government censorship actually looks like: pressure to silence critics using threats of regulatory action and official investigation. Those companies that capitulate to the censorship czar’s threats — including Nexstar and Paramount Skydance — win rubber-stamp approvals of their mega-mergers and other deals, the public interest be damned.”

Last week, more than 90 First Amendment advocates, scholars and litigators urged Carr to stop wielding his authority as a political weapon to silence viewpoints that President Donald Trump doesn’t like, while handing out favors to media companies that pleased the president. In a letter sent to the chairman, they detailed his many questionable attempts to censor and control the media, calling his threats “unlawful jawboning” in violation of the First Amendment. They urged the chairman to withdraw all pending threats against broadcasters and other media outlets. 

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