President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, previewed his priorities in the Trump administration, one of which will be fighting censorship in the United States.
In announcing Carr’s nomination, Trump has described him as a “warrior for Free Speech” and someone who has “fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy.” Carr gave his thanks to Trump on Tuesday while congratulating him on winning the election, after which he previewed several major topics he intends to address while working with the president-elect.
“From my perspective, there’s a couple of top issues,” Carr said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. “Number one is looking at tech censorship. Free speech is the bedrock of our democracy, and there’s been this unprecedented surge in censorship over the last couple of years, and we need to restore Americans’ First Amendment rights.”
Carr also expressed a desire to improve the nation’s media, referencing an op-ed published by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, explaining how public trust in the media is now lower than Congress. Carr contended that Bezos spoke “a lot of truth” with his op-ed and argued “the status quo” over legacy media needs to change.
When confronted on what the FCC can do to help legacy media, Carr explained how broadcasters are licensed by the FCC and that it is time to “reinvigorate” the broadcasters’ desire to serve the public interests. Carr also addressed the FCC complaint CBS’s 60 Minutes is dealing with over its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that he is “pretty confident” this complaint would arise in the FCC’s review.
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In closing his interview, Carr stated that one major factor would be to eliminate the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the FCC, contending that “there’s no place” for this. Once the Trump administration’s transition is finished, Carr promised that the FCC would return to its main mission, being “world broadband.”
The incoming Trump administration has made eliminating DEI initiatives from the U.S. government one of its priorities, with Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, expressing a desire to remove these initiatives from the U.S. military. In announcing former Rep. Sean Duffy’s nomination for transportation secretary, Trump vowed that Duffy would remove “DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.”