Kristen Welker and her husband own a home in Washington, D.C., but the NBC correspondent also occupies spacious accommodations in Donald Trump’s cranium. Call it the presidential suite.

In June, he abruptly stalked out of a televised interview with her after saying she was “crooked.” On Sunday, furious that the “Meet the Press” host had truthfully noted the “mixed results” of his recent candidate endorsements, he posted that “she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”

This is just the latest confirmation that Trump’s sworn oath to uphold the Constitution did not include the First Amendment, which forbids the government from “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Every president, it’s safe to say, has despised certain journalists and felt unfairly treated by the news media. But none has ever waged such a broad and unrelenting assault on press freedom.

Among the numerous examples: For this week’s meeting of G-20 finance ministers in North Carolina, the Treasury Department refused credentials to reporters from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Bloomberg News. Trump has sued newspapers and networks over unflattering coverage.

He banned Associated Press reporters from many presidential events after the news service declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

When Trump invokes the power of the Federal Communications Commission, he’s not making idle threats. The chair he appointed, Brendan Carr, is a true believer in the right of the president to punish broadcasters for airing facts and opinions he doesn’t like.

This is not my deduction; it’s Carr’s stated mission. In March, Trump erupted over coverage of the war in Iran and said the news media wanted the U.S. to lose. Carr promptly accused broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortion” and ordered them to “correct course before their license renewals come up.” In case that was too subtle, he said, “Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

TV and radio licenses do stipulate a duty to serve the “public convenience, interest or necessity.” But the agency has long understood that it may not punish broadcasters for airing stories that displease politicians. Federal law says the FCC may not take actions that “interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication,” which also applies to television.

Carr claims he doesn’t want to act as “the speech police,” which is like a mob boss saying he doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. On April 27, Trump demanded the firing of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for making fun of him. The sun had not set on April 28 before the FCC ordered an “early renewal” review of the licenses of eight TV stations owned by the network.

In July, a bipartisan group of former FCC chairs, commissioners and other officials came together to attest that the ABC review “is unprecedented in the history of the Federal Communications Commission and a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution. Through this proceeding, the FCC seeks to censor Disney’s and ABC’s speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don’t like at your peril.”

Last year, the network paid $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit against anchor George Stephanopoulos — a lawsuit it most likely would have won. ABC clearly hoped to purchase peace. It soon learned that the price offered no protection from an administration that is waging war on the First Amendment.

But the network eventually decided to fight back. In August, it sued to block the license review, accusing the FCC of mounting “a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”

It may be hard to believe, but it was under a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, that the FCC abolished the fairness doctrine. That policy gave the agency considerable power to meddle in the editorial decisions of broadcasters. Reagan took a principled stand: “This type of content-based regulation by the federal government is, in my judgment, antagonistic to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

Carr and his supporters place no value on protecting the freedom of broadcasters. They want the FCC to force TV networks to suppress content they don’t like. They seem to forget that the thuggish methods used against ABC, NBC and other news organizations today could be deployed by a Democratic administration against conservative media tomorrow.

Reagan had more than his share of negative press coverage, but, like most presidents, he accepted it as part of the job in a free society. Nobody had to give him the advice Trump and Carr need to hear: Grow up.

Steve Chapman was a member of the Tribune Editorial Board from 1981 to 2021. His columns, exclusive to the Tribune, now appear the first week of every month. He can be reached at stephenjchapman@icloud.com. 

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