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Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr warned broadcasters on Saturday that they could lose their licenses if they air what he described as misleading coverage of the war involving Iran.
In a post on X, Carr said broadcasters spreading inaccurate reporting should "correct course" before their license renewals.
"Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up," Carr wrote. "The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not."
He did not specify which broadcasters may be at risk.
Carr's comments included a screenshot of a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump accusing major newspapers of misrepresenting developments in the war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and has since escalated across the region.
Trump wrote that headlines reporting Iranian strikes had destroyed tanker aircraft at a Saudi base were "intentionally misleading," saying the planes were not destroyed and that most were already back in service. He singled out The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, stating their coverage was "the exact opposite of the actual facts."
The FCC regulates broadcast television and radio stations, granting licenses to use public airwaves that must be renewed periodically. Carr's warning reflects a broader pattern of the FCC taking a more aggressive stance toward broadcasters' content amid heightened tensions over political coverage.
Since becoming chair during Trump's second term, Carr has repeatedly cited the agency's "public interest" standard and a rarely invoked "news distortion" policy as tools to scrutinize stations' programming.
Earlier this year, CBS chose not to air a scheduled interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" after network lawyers warned the appearance could trigger the FCC's "equal time" rule, which requires stations to provide comparable airtime to political candidates. The commission has recently indicated that late-night talk shows may not qualify for a long-assumed exemption to this rule and has pursued enforcement actions related to a similar interview on ABC's "The View."
Critics, including former FCC officials and lawmakers, have warned that using these authorities to challenge editorial decisions risks pressuring news organizations over their coverage. Carr, however, defends the approach as ensuring broadcasters meet their legal obligations.
Carr's warning contrasts with comments he made earlier in his career. In a 2019 post on X, then-commissioner Carr wrote that "the FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the 'public interest,'" a statement critics have resurfaced as he increasingly invokes that standard to scrutinize broadcasters' programming.
