Carr Draws Democrats' Heat on Kimmel Comments at Senate Hearing; GOP Deflects

Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, acknowledged his past criticism of Carr’s mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as causing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air (see 2509220059). Carr said during a podcast interview that ABC should discipline Kimmel for comments about the reaction to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk or face agency action (see 2509170064). But Cruz and other panel Republicans mostly defended Carr on Wednesday against what they see as Democratic hypocrisy on media censorship issues and largely focused their questions on virtually any other communications policy matter.

Carr argued that he wasn’t threatening “to revoke a license” of ABC and that his comments didn’t influence Kimmel’s preemption, a stance he’s maintained for months (see 2510230050). “The express statements by every single company involved -- from Nexstar to Sinclair to Disney -- as recently as last week, is that they made these business decisions on their own.” He also said Kimmel’s comments about Kirk “appeared to be an effort to mischaracterize the motivations of one of the most significant political assassinations of our time.” It’s “appropriate for the FCC to take action under our public interest standard and hold broadcasters accountable [on] things like broadcast hoax, news distortion, localism,” Carr said. “These are things that we should be taking action on and enforcing.”

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Carr is “weaponizing the [FCC’s] public interest standard” through actions like his Kimmel comments and called for the chairman to resign during a testy exchange about the commission’s probe of Audacy’s KCBS San Francisco. That investigation involved the station’s broadcasting of locations and identifying details of vehicles involved in an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in January (see 2502050051). In a post later Wednesday on X, Carr "denied" Markey’s request but said the “fact that [Markey] thinks I should resign fills me with even greater confidence that the FCC is doing great work today. We will keep at it.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., pressed Carr on whether it “is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire,” noting that the FCC during his chairmanship has “launched investigations into every major broadcast network except Fox.” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, questioned whether Carr thinks “it is appropriate for you to have an opinion at all in your official capacity about what a comedian says, as offensive as it may have been.”

'Muddy the Waters'

Cruz stressed to Carr that “Democrat or Republican, we cannot have the government arbitrating truth or opinion.” Federal “officials threatening adverse consequences for disfavored content is an unconstitutional coercion that chills protected speech,” Cruz said. He at one point suggested that it “might be worthwhile” for lawmakers to consider rewriting the Communications Act to address many issues that require legislative updates from its 1996 revision, including “the so-called public interest standard in the modern era.” Cruz said in a brief interview that he doesn’t have a timeline for any such legislative revamp. Free State Foundation President Randolph May urged lawmakers ahead of the hearing to consider replacing the public interest standard.

But Cruz also emphasized that Democrats’ concerns about the First Amendment and government censorship “were miraculously absent when the Biden administration was pressuring Big Tech to silence Americans for wrong-think on” COVID-19 and election security, issues that Senate Commerce tackled during two October hearings. Panel Democrats cited Carr’s Kimmel comments during both hearings (see 2510080049 and 2510290046). Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued that Democrats’ criticism of Carr over his Kimmel comments “is extraordinary, given” those Biden administration jawboning actions.

Cruz also illustrated what he sees as Democrats' hypocrisy by pointing to a 2018 letter from Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and 11 other Democratic senators asking then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to review Sinclair's fitness to maintain its broadcast licenses (see 1804120026). “Democrats who signed this disagreed with the content on [Sinclair, and] I spoke out against it at the time,” Cruz said. “And you know what? Not a single Democrat on this committee had a word to say about it.”

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., countered that Cruz citing the letter is “another attempt to muddy the waters.” Carr’s “threats to companies he directly regulates are not the same thing as a letter from Congress requesting an agency examine a matter of public concern,” Kim said. “Members on both sides of the aisle frequently write similar letters.”

Cruz said his Communications Act revamp should target “current media ownership caps,” and other Senate Commerce Republicans took no issue with efforts by the FCC to eliminate the broadcast TV-ownership limit (see 2512150046). NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt later urged policymakers to “modernize … the rules governing television and radio ownership, [which] are badly outdated and no longer reflect the competitive realities of today’s media marketplace.”

Carr told Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., at the hearing that the commissioners are still “looking at these issues and haven't made a decision” on eliminating the cap. However, “if we care as a public interest matter about local news and local reporting, I think we have to start to look at policies that can create more incentives for investment there,” he said. “National programmers … are increasingly dominating with respect to those local broadcasters. So we want to make sure that they do have the ability to invest in local newsgathering.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote to Carr on Monday urging the FCC to “closely scrutinize” Nexstar's proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna “because it would allow Nexstar to exceed national caps on station ownership, creating a media giant that would far outstrip its competitors, reaching 80% of U.S. TV households.” A MoveOn.org petition and telecom provider Optimum also criticized the Nexstar/Tegna deal Wednesday (see 2512170054).