![\"Brendan](\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2268141077.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000\")
When Federal Communications Commission<\/span> Chair Brendan Carr talks about broadcast licensees serving the \u201cpublic interest,\u201d he loves<\/a> to emphasize<\/a> \u201clocalism<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Localism is the idea that powerful entities (in this case, broadcasters) should serve the needs and interests of the communities they service. In the abstract, it\u2019s hard to argue with, especially at a time when news deserts are spreading, small-town outlets are folding, and, thanks to the administration in which Carr serves, local public radio<\/a> stations are reeling. <\/p>\n When you look at the fights Carr actually picks with broadcasters over the \u201cpublic interest\u201d requirement, however, a curious pattern emerges. They aren\u2019t local stories at all, unless you consider Tehran and San Salvador local. They\u2019re national and global stories that upset not residents of underserved heartland communities, but President Donald Trump, the man whose gilded face Carr wears<\/a> as a lapel pin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sure, when he\u2019s playing for the home crowd, Carr will openly admit, and even brag about, helping Trump reshape the national media to his liking. That\u2019s what he did<\/a> at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, bragging about such \u201cwins\u201d as the Paramount\u2013Skydance merger in Trump\u2019s ongoing feud against media adversaries. Carr\u2019s FCC approved that deal only after unconstitutionally extracting editorial concessions<\/a> from CBS News and helping Trump launder a multimillion-dollar alleged bribe<\/a> though the courts.<\/p>\n But in less partisan settings, from congressional testimony to mainstream media interviews, localism has become Carr\u2019s go-to talking point<\/a> whenever he\u2019s pressed on his unconstitutional efforts to police news content or confronted with his past statements<\/a> railing against the partisan suppression of news. He\u2019s not censoring the airwaves, he claims; he\u2019s just sticking up for the little guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet Carr has never threatened a broadcast license because a newsroom ignored city council meetings or local crime, or offered a biased take on a school board\u2019s budget decisions. It would, of course, violate the First Amendment\u00a0for him to do that too \u2014 the FCC, as Carr once said<\/a>, \u201cdoes not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the \u2018public interest.\u2019\u201d But at least it would be consistent with his populist gimmick.<\/p>\n In fact, his threats arise from coverage on national news networks, not their local affiliates, which actually hold the broadcast licenses he\u2019s threatening to revoke. In other words, he\u2019s threatening to punish local news stations for national content they don\u2019t produce, and sometimes don\u2019t even air, that angers Trump.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s play back some of Carr\u2019s greatest hits; see if you can spot the localism.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carr also likes to tell broadcasters what they should<\/em> air, but he doesn\u2019t implore them to report more or better local news. Instead, he launched the \u201cPledge America Campaign,\u201d calling on<\/a> broadcasters to meet their public interest obligations by airing \u201cpatriotic, pro-America content\u201d celebrating \u201cthe historic accomplishments of this great nation from our founding through the Trump Administration today.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n