Free Press Slams Trump FCC’s Broadcast Ownership Proceeding as ‘Wildly Dangerous’ for Democracy

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Free Press slammed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr for ignoring the law, settled precedent, and the First Amendment in pursuit of a partisan and ideological agenda in his latest bid to eliminate TV-station ownership limits on broadcast conglomerates in the United States.

Earlier this summer, the FCC asked for public comments on changing or eliminating a broadcast ownership rule set by Congress. That provision limits the size and national reach of giant broadcasters — like Sinclair, Nexstar and Fox Corporation — which already own hundreds of local stations across the country. 

In its comments filed on Aug. 4, Free Press wrote that the FCC  proceeding’s real aim is to fulfill the Trump administration’s desire “to use the Commission’s licensing authority to exert total control over the media” according to the filing. “Media consolidation and deal approvals are now explicitly a way for President Trump to further consolidate his dictatorial power, through explicit loyalty tests and pledges to use the public airwaves as a propaganda tool against the American public.” 

The national cap set by Congress prohibits television broadcasters from reaching more than 39 percent of the national audience. Eliminating that cap would clear a path to even more mergers across a broadcast television sector that is already profitable, Free Press wrote in its filing. Every new merger proposal, in turn, gives President Trump new opportunities to extort money from — and influence the editorial decisions of — any media companies seeking approval of the deal.  

The Free Press filing also finds:

• The FCC doesn’t have the authority to increase or eliminate the national cap. Last time it tried, Congress specifically changed the number, and took review of the national cap out of the congressionally-mandated quadrennial review.
• The facts show when these chains consolidate, they cut news. From 2009 to 2024 the number of local TV stations producing original news declined by 10 percent, even as inflation-adjusted revenues increased by 49 percent.
• Local TV conglomerates have done very-well financially while under the national cap, and do not need to consolidate in order to continue to be very profitable. No matter how much they say they need to merge to compete with big tech, it’s simply not true.

Free Press’ filing demonstrates how the national cap remains a good policy, which promotes competition, localism, and diversity in broadcasting, incentivizing stations to maintain local newsrooms and local journalism jobs instead of duplicating supposed local news nationwide. Greater competition and diversity of sources remains critical, in part because local TV news broadcasts continue to have a disproportionate impact on public opinion and voting behavior, reads the filing.

S. Derek Turner, Free Press senior economic and policy advisor and coauthor of the FCC filing, said:

“With this proceeding Chairman Carr is placing a for-sale sign on the public airwaves and inviting media companies to monopolize the local news markets as long as they agree to display political fealty to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. 

“The price broadcast companies have to pay for consolidating further is bending the knee, and the line starts outside of the FCC Chairman’s office. Trump’s autocratic demands seemingly have no bounds, and Carr apparently has no qualms about satisfying them. Carr’s grossly partisan and deeply hypocritical water-carrying for Trump has already stained the agency, making it clear that this FCC is no longer independent, impartial or fair.

“Chairman Carr pretends that his quid-pro-quo exercise of power and intrusion into the First-Amendment-protected editorial decisions of the news media will restore trust in the media, as if it’s the Trump FCC’s job to police news operations and stories this president wants to quash. Abandoning any pretense of respecting free speech and freedom of the press, Carr ominously notes that the government will be watching media outlets to correct them when they stray from the government’s preferred narratives. 

“Not only does this proceeding ignore Congress’ decision to set the national cap, it also poses a fundamental threat to the media’s democratic obligation to speak truth to power. Handing even more media control to a handful of capitulating conglomerates and billionaires already so dominant in the broadcast space is a wildly dangerous idea under any administration but especially this one. Congressionally established limits to media consolidation can’t simply be wiped away by the FCC because Trump and his minions want new ways to hijack the media and undermine America’s free press.”

Background  
On July 29, Free Press released the Media Capitulation Index, a sweeping investigation into the independence of the 35 largest American media conglomerates. The index reveals the varying degrees that the owners of America’s largest media firms are caving to pressure from an authoritarian-minded president and his captured federal agencies. This capitulation is not unique to owners of broadcast news outlets — like Paramount (which owns CBS) and Disney (ABC). Rather, it’s a pervasive trend that applies to nearly all commercial media, including cable and telecommunications firms and online platforms.

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