Carr: FCC ‘looking at a lot of actions’ to stop broadcasters’ partisan coverage

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr on Sunday said he is “looking at a lot of actions” to prevent networks from airing fake polls and partisan coverage ahead of midterm elections.

Carr appeared on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing” with Peter Doocy and said that networks are intended to operate in the public interest and “not some sort of narrow partisan interest.”

“I think President Trump is over the target, and we’re looking at a lot of actions,” he continued. “For instance, there’s a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there and so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not air fake polls, particularly if they’re done to suppress people heading into the fall.”

His comments come after President Trump urged the agency to punish NBC News’s Kristen Welker. She angered the president last Sunday while teasing an upcoming episode of “Meet the Press” on its Washington, D.C., affiliate earlier in the day. She said Trump is “going to loom large over” the midterm elections while also noting that Trump-endorsed candidates have had “mixed results” during the Republican primaries.

Trump has compiled a 96-percent winning record in this year’s primaries, according to Ballotpedia. Those who have lost include Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves?” Trump wrote last week on Truth Social. “Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

NBC News said it stands by Welker, calling her “one of the best in the business.”

Trump has frequently called on the FCC, historically an independent commission, to apply pressure on leading broadcasters throughout his second term. Carr has launched investigations into NBC and ABC’s diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices.

He and Trump have praised CBS News under its new editor Bar Weiss, previously a columnist, as the network is under parent company Paramount Skydance, led by Trump ally and billionaire David Ellison.

Critics have denounced the president’s use of the FCC as a tool to intimidate journalists ahead of the midterms.

Some Republicans, however, have warned against enforcing regulatory penalties on broadcasters, particularly over ABC’s actions after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended for comments he made after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed last September.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, warned last year that Carr’s threats of action against ABC were “dangerous as hell.”