Carr Jacked

Former FCC chairs, Republican and Democrat alike, are sounding the alarm over Brendan Carr’s crusade against media companies. In a statement to Status, Carr responded with a GIF—and a tirade.

Author

Oliver Darcy
February 18, 2025

Brendan Carr and Donald Trump. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Over the weekend, Tom Wheeler, the former Federal Communications Commission chair under Barack Obama, traveled to his local theater to finally see "Wicked." The Academy Award-nominated film, a Comcast production, features Marissa Bode, an actor who uses a wheelchair, as Nessarose—a casting choice that underscores the company’s commitment to authentic representation.

Afterward, Wheeler praised NBCUniversal’s decision, telling me, “Someone is making an inclusive effort, and that is important.” But then, his tone shifted. He was reluctant to criticize a successor, he admitted, but he felt compelled to speak out after Brendan Carr, the current Donald Trump-appointed FCC commissioner, announced an investigation into Comcast over its D.E.I. initiatives—the very framework that may have helped bring Bode’s casting to life.

"The fact that they're saying that because you have a corporate philosophy of inclusion, I will launch an investigation that attacks the fact that your website states this is a 'core value of our business'—maybe that was my breaking point," Wheeler told me.

Wheeler is part of a growing group of former FCC chairs who have decided that they have a responsibility to speak out…

The rest of this article is for paid subscribers only. Here’s what’s behind the paywall:

  • 📜 A growing resistance: Wheeler isn’t the only former FCC chair speaking out against Carr. He’s part of a growing group.

  • 🗣️ “The hottest places in Hell…”: Wheeler invoked Dante to explain why staying silent isn’t an option.

  • 🧐 Reed Hundt connects the dots: What the former FCC chair told Status about the agency’s past—and why it’s crucial to understanding Carr’s actions today.

  • ‼️ Carr responds: When we asked Carr for comment about the criticism, he texted back: “Lol. Just three?”—then he sent a GIF. And then he sent an astonishing, very lengthy statement blasting his predecessors for supposed Trump Derangement Syndrome, among other things.

  • 🧊 A chilling message: Carr’s actions aren’t just a regulatory shift—they’re a direct assault on press freedom, with consequences that will almost certainly impact what information makes its way to the public.

The Information Wars

Rupert Murdoch. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Status Scoop | Fox Hunt: The Media and Democracy Project (MAD) filed an appeal on Tuesday after the FCC dismissed its petition to deny Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation a broadcast license for one of its local TV stations. Former FCC chief Jessica Rosenworcel had rejected MAD’s petition—along with complaints against ABC, CBS, and NBC. But when Brendan Carr took over the regulatory body, he reinstated all the petitions except, quite notably, MAD’s challenge to Fox. MAD has argued that Murdoch should be disqualified from holding a broadcast license due to his role in spreading lies about the 2020 election. In a statement to Status, MAD’s co-founder said…

The remainder of this newsletter is for paid subscribers only.

Scoop-driven reporting and unafraid analysis. See why top media professionals rely on Status for their nightly briefing.

Here’s some of what’s behind the paywall in this edition:

  • 📺 Trump overshadowed? In his Fox News sit-down, Donald Trump spent an unusual amount of time just… sitting there. Did Elon Musk dominate the conversation, and what does it say about their dynamic?

  • 🚨 CBS shake-up: A top editorial executive is exiting at CBS News in a move that comes as the network battles both Trump—and, to some extent, its own owner.

  • 📰 POLITICO’s newsroom overhaul: The Washington outlet just announced a sweeping re-org. We have the details.

  • 📊 TV’s big touchdown: Traditional TV just saw a massive ratings boost, driven by two major forces. One of them is obvious—football. The other? Take a guess.

  • 🎶 Bring back the banger! A humble message to David Zaslav and Casey Bloys urging the Warner Bros. Discovery bosses to restore “The White Lotus” theme song before it’s too late!