FCC Chair Brendan Carr told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday that he is reshaping the media landscape, declaring “Trump is winning” and citing what he described as moves against left-leaning outlets and personalities.
Speaking at the conference, Carr pointed to efforts to defund public broadcasters PBS and NPR and noted recent departures of journalists and television hosts he characterized as left-leaning, including Joy Reid, Chuck Todd and Stephen Colbert, as evidence of broader change in media influence. He said those developments reflected a shift in which viewpoints dominate mainstream outlets.
Carr framed his remarks as part of a deliberate push to challenge perceived liberal bias in media and praised conservative gains in media influence. He also linked the trends he described to broader political victories for Republicans, encapsulated in his “Trump is winning” remark.
His comments drew immediate attention at CPAC and prompted responses from media analysts and political observers who disputed the characterization of the departures and the causes behind them. The FCC chair’s role is regulatory, not editorial, and his statements underscored tensions over the agency’s public posture toward broadcast and public media.
Carr’s appearance follows heightened debate over federal support for public broadcasters and ongoing scrutiny of media ownership, content moderation and perceived ideological slants — issues that continue to be contested in both policy and public discourse.