Warmongers Come for the Media

Two weeks into its senseless, unlawful, unpopular and grossly mismanaged war on Iran, the Trump administration has locked in on a familiar target: the media.

President Trump and his cabinet are failing, flailing and saying the quietest parts at max volume.

Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr have lashed out at critical coverage with bogus charges of “fake news,” “hoaxes” and even “TREASON” in a desperate attempt to cover up their blunders by blaming the messengers.

They hope they can silence critics and dodge hard questions by appealing to their billionaire bosses and threatening those who aren’t yet on board with blocked mergers, revoked broadcast licenses and canceled government contracts. Will this finally be the moment that media execs stand up to censorship and politicians wake up to the dangers of media coercion and consolidation? We desperately need them to stop capitulating and start pushing back.

Pentagon follies

Hegseth kicked the latest barrage off with a rant on Friday about the media’s ongoing coverage of his incompetence, complaining about CNN’s reluctance to parrot government propaganda.

Hegseth’s coup de grâce: “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

Ellison is the Paramount Skydance honcho, and scion of billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison. Since taking over Paramount last year, David has overseen the transformation of CBS News into a more-Trump-friendly mouthpiece. Now he’s on the cusp of seizing control of CNN as part of his takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery — a mega-merger requiring Trump administration approval.

The Trumpers pushing for this deal have dispensed with any pretense about competition and corporate synergy. They’re just openly calling on their media cronies to deliver a political narrative that only praises the president without any accountability.

You can’t find a clearer explanation for why Paramount’s merger is so rotten and must be blocked. This klaxon should be sounding loud enough for even state attorneys general and Democratic politicians to hear.

Hegseth’s comments should be a major scandal. But in the chaos of the Trump administration, he’s just a warm-up act.

The batshit-crazy signal

Enter the headliner: On Saturday, President Trump lashed out on Truth Social about coverage of an Iranian missile strike that damaged several U.S. planes at a Saudi airbase. “The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War,” he wrote. “Their terrible reporting is the exact opposite of the actual facts! They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America.”

Once Trump lights the batshit-crazy signal, his minions come running, none faster than Censorship Czar Carr, the chairman of the FCC. Carr retweeted Trump’s diatribe, warning “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.”

The right loves to bemoan censorship, but this is what it actually looks like in practice: government pressure to silence media criticism with threats of regulatory or prosecutorial action.

The threats are the point. And Carr keeps issuing them because it pleases Trump, because it gives him access to the president — and because major media companies refuse to stand up to his bullying.

Live from Mar-a-Lago

According to CNN’s Brian Stelter, Carr was tweeting from Mar-a-Lago, which he visits “every month or so during the winter months, recognizing (as many others in Trump's orbit have) that it's an ideal way to get face time with the president.”

It’s a safe bet that most previous presidents couldn’t even name the chairman of the FCC without a reminder, but Carr has ingratiated himself to Trump with his sycophancy and zealotry. Carr’s performing for a TV-obsessed audience of one, and that’s what gives him his power. He’s more than willing to destroy the Fourth Estate, his own agency and the Constitution to keep King Donald happy.

When Carr’s abuse of power — and apparent inability to distinguish between a newspaper and a TV station — earned howls of rebuke, Trump doubled down in his defense. The president posted, complete with ransom-note capitalization, that he was “thrilled to see” Carr “looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”

Trump also suggested that any media that doesn’t echo his claims about how well things are going in Iran “should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!”

Considering the maximum penalty for treason, this amounts to a death threat.

Uncharted territory

Trump also posted a bizarre graphic touting his victories over the media that looks like it was cut and pasted together by a middle schooler. It trumpets the firings of Stephen Colbert and several prominent journalists, the “massive layoffs” at The Washington Post and the defunding of public media, as well as “new ownership” of CNN, saving TikTok, and being “the 1st POTUS to join NFL broadcast.”

Down in the corner you’ll find some artwork lifted from The Hollywood Reporter depicting Carr as Trump’s snarling chihuahua.

The whole chart is a monument to idiocracy and a revelation of how low cronyism, corruption and consolidation have brought our media institutions. Trump and Carr didn’t do this alone. They had all-too-willing accomplices in media board rooms and executive suites, who willfully forfeited press freedom and their responsibility to hold power to account in exchange for Trump officials waiving through mergers and awarding fat government contracts.

Our media moguls are far too interested in currying favor with Trump’s abusive administration to challenge its lies. Those who refuse to toe the official line can always be bought up or get new bosses. Or at least that’s the implicit threat. And Carr and Trump keep finding that the threat alone is enough to get whatever they want.

Calling their bluff

After all the attacks on universities, law firms, media companies and other institutions, it’s clear that capitulation is the only thing that never works. The bullies keep coming and demanding more lunch money.

The crumbling infrastructure of U.S. media has allowed a totalitarian president and his FCC lapdog to violate the Constitution without fear of retribution or accountability, or even having to prove their case can withstand First Amendment scrutiny in court. The official threat is enough for them to shut down dissenting voices among their ranks.

“Out of many politically motivated FCC investigations targeting perceived government critics, not a single one has resulted in an enforcement action,” said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, one of the few remaining government officials willing to speak out. “This follows a well-established pattern of threatened investigations, broadcast license revocations and regulatory harassment aimed at pressuring broadcasters and their corporate parents to comply or capitulate in advance.”

Brendan Carr is right about one thing: “The public has lost faith and confidence in the media.” But it’s for failing to challenge Trump’s lies, not for furthering them. The only way threats and lies stop is if media companies start calling their bluff.

Carr must go

Political leaders have an important role to play here, too. Some, like Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, understand the assignment. “This is the federal government telling news stations to provide favorable coverage of the war or their licenses will be pulled,” he wrote on Saturday.

“We aren’t on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. Act like it.”

Every truth-seeking leader should be speaking out loudly against the threats, opposing mega-mergers like Paramount-Warner Bros. and Nexstar-Tegna that will only further warp coverage, and demanding the removal of officials like Carr who’ve abandoned their oaths to cling to power and prop up Trump’s lies.

Carr’s actions warrant him being impeached. And while that might not be possible with the current configuration of Congress, we should still be demanding his dismissal at every turn. That means no more softball questions when he’s in front of Congress, no more back-slapping panels and canned laughter after his “gas-station sushi” jokes, no more pretending any of this is normal or acceptable.

Trump will jettison anyone he perceives as a political liability (see Noem, Kristi) and Carr certainly should be on that list, the sooner the better.

Getting rid of Carr isn’t the answer to all of our media problems. But it would be a start. And, if nothing else, “YOU’RE FIRED” is a language that even Donald Trump can understand. 

Teamwork (Hollywood Edition)

Following Friday’s Pressing Issues on our anti-merger mobile billboards cruising Tinseltown, Free Press made some post-awards appearances in the Associated Press and NBC News about how bad the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal will be.

“Many of those feting the film industry inside the Dolby Theater on Sunday have already expressed concern about Hollywood’s new billionaire overlords,” Free Press co-CEO Jessica González told NBC News. “The merger poses an even graver threat to democracy.”

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The kicker

“Oops. I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet.” – Krusty the Clown

About the author

Craig Aaron is the co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action and a guy with two first names. Follow him on Bluesky.