President-elect Donald Trump declared on Sunday that his new administration would be up and running within hours of his inauguration, and his incoming Federal Communications Commission is apparently taking that directive seriously.
Brendan Carr, who currently serves as the FCC commissioner, fired off a note to Disney CEO Bob Iger, and indicated that he planned to hold news networks — like the Disney-owned ABC News — accountable during his tenure as chairman.
Incoming FCC chairman sends a letter to the CEO of Disney (owner of ABC) telling him “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.” https://t.co/9J5yZJgkbT
https://t.co/WzzV7fZx1e— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) December 23, 2024
In the letter, Carr noted that the American people have largely lost trust in the national media — although most, according to polling data, still have much more positive views of their local media outlets.
“Dear Mr. Iger, Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Carr’s letter began, before pivoting to address ABC’s recent $15 million settlement — and an additional $1 million in attorney fees — with Trump.
“ABC’s own conduct has certainly contributed to this erosion in public trust. For instance, ABC News recently agreed to pay $15 million to President Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum and an additional $1 million in attorney fees to settle a defamation case,” Carr wrote.
The defamation case sprung from a March broadcast of the network’s flagship Sunday morning show, “This Week,” when veteran anchor George Stephanopoulos said on a number of occasions that Trump had been “found liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case.
Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic strategist, had been warned against using the word “rape” prior to the broadcast, but did it anyway.
Carr went on to suggest that by prioritizing Disney’s paid streaming services over content that might be made available to the local, and more trusted, affiliates, the company was only deepening the public’s mistrust.
“The fact that a massive trust divide has emerged between local news outlets and national programmers like ABC only increases the importance of retransmission consent revenues remaining available for local broadcast TV stations to invest in their local news operations and content that serves their communities,” he added.
