Trump's hand-picked FCC head Carr launches investigations into NPR and PBS

The Trump administration is wasting no time in targeting conservative bugbears.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said he is launching investigations into both PBS and NPR, in the hopes of helping Congress defund the public broadcasters. His basis for the investigation stems from what he alleges are potentially unlawful commercials.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” Carr wrote on Wednesday to the heads of NPR and PBS. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

Over a thousand local stations, the vast majority being non-profits, broadcast NPR and PBS content on public airwaves as a result of licenses granted by the FCC. Those stations aren’t authorized to run ads, but historically have run sponsor credits, or corporate underwriting spots, to thank financial backers.

Carr says stations that don't meet the standard could lose their licenses. On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump floated using the FCC's power to revoke broadcasting licenses and settle scores with news organizations.

In a statement, NPR President Katherine Maher said the organization “complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well.”

The investigations into advertising at NPR and PBS, both of which are funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, mirror an explicit call to action within Project 2025, which demanded the 47th President “stop public funding” for the broadcasters that it alleges are “no longer noncommercial” or educational.

Carr wrote the chapter of Project 2025 on the FCC and showed his hand in his letter to the heads of the public networks. 

"For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967," he wrote. "To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars."

Geoffrey Starks, a Democratic commissioner for the FCC, called Carr’s move a “serious concern,” per NPR, adding that an “attempt to intimidate these local media outlets is a threat to the free flow of information and the marketplace of ideas.”