Federal Communications Committee Chairman Brendan Carr’s clampdown on TV stations has a surprising antecedent. Sixty-five years ago, another activist FCC chief, Newton N. Minow, also read the riot act to TV networks.Minow, an appointee of President John F. Kennedy, came from a very different political philosophy than Carr, who was selected by President Donald Trump. But both chairmen alarmed First Amendment champions who saw their actions as government meddling.In April, Carr launched a review of eight local ABC licenses, including big-city affiliates in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The FCC ordered ABC to file its license renewals by May 28, more than two years ahead of schedule, citing “possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.” That echoed a move by Minow, who threatened to yank TV stations’ licenses.
ABC, which is owned by Disney, filed the renewal requests as mandated, but essentially did so under protest, writing on behalf of WABC-TV in New York that the renewal order was “unlawful, arbitrary and unconstitutional.”From left: Newton N. Minow in May 1961; Brendan Carr in 2026. (AP Photo; Jose Luis Magana/AP)
