{"id":47460,"date":"2026-04-02T18:25:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47460"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:25:32","slug":"un-human-rights-chief-calls-out-trump-fcc-for-threatening-media-over-iran-war-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/un-human-rights-chief-calls-out-trump-fcc-for-threatening-media-over-iran-war-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Human Rights Chief Calls Out Trump FCC for Threatening Media Over Iran War Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Federal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr arrives for a meeting on February 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFull respect for media independence and freedoms is all the more important in such circumstances, as fundamental to holding governments to public account,\u201d said Volker T\u00fcrk.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 01, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations<\/a>\u2019 top human rights<\/a> official on Tuesday accused a Trump administration<\/a> agency of attempting to \u201climit media freedom\u201d by publicly threatening outlets engaged in critical coverage of the Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volker T\u00fcrk, the UN human rights chief, specifically called out<\/a> the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC<\/a>) over its chairman\u2019s threat<\/a> last month to pull the broadcast licenses of broadcasters accused by the administration of \u201cnews distortions.\u201d FCC Chair Brendan Carr issued the threat in response to a March 14 tirade by US President Donald Trump<\/a>, who baselessly condemned The Wall Street<\/a> Journal and other media outlets for publishing \u201cintentionally misleading\u201d war coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FCC<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s FCC Chair Threatens to Pull Broadcast Licenses Over Negative Iran War Coverage<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"US<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump Floats \u2018Charges for Treason\u2019 Against Media Outlets Over Iran War Coverage<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

T\u00fcrk\u2019s mention of the FCC came at the tail-end of a statement decrying the \u201cdeepening clampdown on freedom of expression\u201d amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. The UN official pointed to mass arbitrary detentions in Qatar<\/a>, the United Arab Emirates<\/a>, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, and Iran, as well as crackdowns on free assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have also been attempts to limit media freedom, such as restrictions imposed by Israeli military censorship<\/a> authorities, and a threat by the US Federal Communications Commission to revoke broadcast licenses for coverage deemed critical of the war,\u201d said T\u00fcrk. \u201cFull respect for media independence and freedoms is all the more important in such circumstances, as fundamental to holding governments to public account. The exercise of such rights must be protected, not threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day after the FCC chief threatened broadcasters, Trump floated<\/a> \u201ctreason\u201d charges against media outlets he accused of spreading \u201cfalse information\u201d\u2014something the president does constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Jones, senior media writer at Poynter, wrote<\/a> earlier this week that \u201cperhaps the most dangerous figure in Trump\u2019s aggression against the press is Brendan Carr,\u201d who \u201cmade his feelings abundantly clear at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas<\/a> on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe bragged about the damage Trump has done to the media,\u201d Jones wrote. \u201cCarr told an approving crowd, \u2018Look at the results so far. PBS<\/a>, defunded. NPR<\/a>, defunded. Joy Reid, gone from MSNBC. Sleepy-eyes Chuck Todd, gone. Jim Acosta, gone. John Dickerson, gone. Stephen Colbert is leaving. CBS is under new ownership, and soon enough, CNN is going to have new ownership as well.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen,\u201d Jones added, \u201che chillingly said, \u2018So, we\u2019re not at the point yet where we\u2019re raising the mission accomplished flag, but President Trump is taking on the fake news media, and President Trump is winning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carr\u2019s attack on broadcasters over their Iran war coverage led Sen. Ed Markey<\/a> (D-Mass.) to reiterate his call for the FCC chair\u2019s resignation. In a letter<\/a> to Carr, Markey wrote that the chairman\u2019s threat demonstrated his \u201ccontinued effort to turn the FCC into Trump\u2019s personal speech police.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carr\u2019s threat to pull media outlets\u2019 broadcast licenses \u201cfollows that same logic but extends it to the coverage of an active military conflict, where the chilling effect on journalists and the damage to the public\u2019s right to know are most severe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Trump administration officials, most notably Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a>, have vocally complained about press coverage of the illegal Iran war, describing American media outlets as insufficiently \u201cpatriotic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Hegseth\u2019s leadership, the Pentagon<\/a> recently ramped up its crackdown on journalists\u2019 access to the department following a court ruling<\/a> against earlier press restrictions. As part of the new crackdown, the Pentagon closed a press area known as Correspondents\u2019 Corridor and moved reporters to an unfinished annex<\/a> in a separate building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClosing the Correspondents\u2019 Corridor and forcing escorted access undermines independent reporting at the Pentagon at a moment when the public needs clear, unfiltered information about the US military<\/a>,\u201d said Mark Schoeff Jr., president of the National Press Club. \u201cIndependent reporting on the US military is not optional. It is essential to accountability, transparency, and public trust. Any policy that curtails that access should concern everyone who values a free and informed society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr arrives for a meeting on February 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images) \u201cFull respect for media independence and freedoms is all the more important in such circumstances, as fundamental to holding governments to public account,\u201d said Volker T\u00fcrk. Jake Johnson… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47461,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47460\/revisions\/47461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}