FCC Chair Carr Demands Patriotic Content While Silencing Late-Night Hosts
Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has called on broadcasters to air “patriotic, pro-America” content as part of a “Pledge America Campaign” ahead of the nation’s 250th independence anniversary in July. Carr’s directive explicitly requests networks air programming celebrating American history, begin each broadcast day with the Pledge of Allegiance, and feature music by composers including John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin. The campaign frames such programming as addressing declining civics education and serving broadcasters’ public interest obligations.
Carr has become a central figure in the Trump administration’s conflict with late-night television hosts after pressuring ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s show in September over comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting. Upon returning, Kimmel called out Carr’s hypocrisy by citing a 2022 social media post from Carr himself stating that “political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech.” Stephen Colbert similarly attacked Carr this week after CBS reportedly blocked an interview with Democrat James Talarico running for U.S. Senate in Texas, with Carr having indicated he was considering removing talk show exemptions from FCC equal-time rules.
Anna Gomez, the sole Democratic FCC Commissioner, directly opposed Carr’s campaign, stating on X that “nothing is more American than defending our constitutional rights against those who would erode our civil liberties” and urging broadcasters to refuse government interference by defending their First Amendment rights. CBS denied blocking the Talarico interview, stating instead that legal guidance indicated broadcast could trigger equal-time requirements for other candidates. The FCC’s equal-time rules do not apply to digital platforms, and the blocked interview has garnered over 8.3 million views on The Late Show’s YouTube channel.
Carr has framed his actions as ending broadcaster control over public discourse. In a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, Carr declared that “the days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for, are over,” crediting Trump with “smashing the facade” of media independence. Carr’s language and actions demonstrate the administration’s deliberate effort to pressure networks into aligning content with government-approved messaging while simultaneously attacking press freedom as a mechanism of control.
