FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s Dubious Free Speech Win
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The Paramount Merger and the First Amendment Circus
How a Telecom Regulator Became a Free Speech Crusader
Brendan Carr, the FCC commissioner with a penchant for turning regulatory decisions into culture war soundbites, is at it again. This time, he’s claiming a victory for the First Amendment in the Paramount-CBS merger—a deal that, by most accounts, had little to do with free speech and everything to do with corporate consolidation.
Carr, a Trump appointee who’s made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Big Tech censorship, framed the FCC’s approval of the merger as a win against 'woke corporatism.' Never mind that the agency’s role was purely to assess whether the deal served the public interest under communications law. Carr spun it as a blow against 'cancel culture'—a phrase that’s lost all meaning but still gets headlines.
The irony? The merger itself consolidates media power into fewer hands, something free speech advocates usually worry about. But Carr isn’t one for consistency.
Who Is Brendan Carr, Really?
A Regulator Playing Pundit
Carr’s been on a roll lately, positioning himself as the FCC’s resident contrarian. While the commission grapples with net neutrality, broadband access, and spectrum allocation, Carr’s become a fixture on conservative media, railing against 'Big Tech overreach' and cheering Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter as a free speech renaissance.
His latest stunt—turning a routine merger review into a First Amendment showdown—is classic Carr. He’s less a regulator than a pundit with a government title, using his platform to amplify culture war grievances rather than, say, addressing the 42 million Americans who still lack broadband access.
It’s a savvy play. In today’s political climate, rhetoric about censorship gets more traction than wonky discussions about spectrum auctions or rural broadband grants.
Why This Matters Beyond the Soundbites
The Real Stakes of Media Consolidation
While Carr’s free speech grandstanding makes for good Fox News segments, the Paramount-CBS merger has real implications. Media consolidation has been accelerating for decades, shrinking the number of independent voices and putting more control in the hands of a few conglomerates.
Studies show that when local newsrooms are gutted or folded into national entities, coverage suffers. Communities lose out on investigative reporting, and homogenized content takes its place. That’s the actual threat to free speech—not some nebulous 'woke agenda' Carr loves to invoke.
But Carr’s narrative isn’t about nuance. It’s about turning every regulatory decision into a skirmish in the broader culture war, even when the connection is tenuous at best.
What’s Next for Carr—and the FCC
A Preview of 2024’s Tech Policy Battles
With the 2024 election looming, Carr’s positioning himself as a key player in the GOP’s tech policy agenda. Expect more fiery speeches about 'Big Tech censorship,' more appearances on conservative podcasts, and more attempts to reframe mundane regulatory actions as existential battles for free expression.
The danger here isn’t just rhetorical. If Carr’s brand of performative governance gains traction, it could further politicize the FCC, an agency that’s supposed to operate (at least nominally) in the public interest. When every merger review or spectrum decision becomes a proxy war for broader ideological fights, the losers are ordinary Americans who just want affordable, reliable internet—not a commissioner auditioning for his next cable news hit.
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