Here's the Roundup for the Week Ending February 28
Carr revealed his plans for local TV stations during the Innovation to Restore Trust in News: A National Summit hosted by digital news outlet Semafor in Washington, D.C. Click here for their story.
Variety also covered it and reported that Carr aims to "re-empower" local TV stations, and he suggested that Congress consider tighter regulations on content moderation processes for social media giants. Click here for that story.
We dug up the video of Carr's conversation with Semafor co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith. Here's the video of the interview:
Some of what Carr said seemed to signal that the FCC is looking at how the networks influence what happens at the affiliate level.
"One thing that's been the guide-star through the FCC's public interest standard is localism – serving the needs of your local community,' said Carr. 'Again, we've gotten so much national news media, coming down from these national programmers into the local communities. I think I want to re- empower local news, local sports. I think that's a good thing."
He also seemed to believe that he is righting the wrongs of previous administrations through his recent actions.
Carr has looked into CBS News' 60 Minutes and its interview of Vice President Kamala Harris that aired last October. A right-wing law firm also filed a complaint with the FCC against WCBS-TV New York for airing the 60 Minutes episode. One of Carr's first acts after becoming FCC chairman was to reinstate the WCBS complaint that had been dismissed along with three others by his predecessor, Biden appointee Jessica Rosenworcel. He's also looked into a San Francisco radio station KCBS over its coverage of ICE Raids and has launched an investigation into NBC owner Comcast for its DEI policies.
In addition, three senators have written a sternly worded letter to Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington, saying the Trump Administration is "weaponizing its authority over broadcasters and public media for political purposes."
When asked about it, he flipped the narrative and said that he was the one restoring objectivity to the commission.
"We're coming out of a period, in my view, where there was a lot of weaponization at the FCC. Your last name dictated the FCC treatment," he said referring to the Republican's favorite rich guy, George Soros.
Carr also spoke about Elon Musk's outsized role in the government and seemed to assure folks that he would be fair.
In response to Musk's Starlink seeking to expand its role in providing high-speed internet to rural areas, Carr said that "if Starlink or Musk is pushing an issue and he's right 100% of time, at the FCC, we're going to side with him 100%. If he's pushing issues and he's wrong every single time, then he's going to lose every single time at the FCC."
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