{"id":37836,"date":"2025-04-07T19:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T19:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=37836"},"modified":"2025-04-08T14:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T14:37:22","slug":"the-mysterious-case-of-the-chair-of-the-ficticious-chaos-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/the-mysterious-case-of-the-chair-of-the-ficticious-chaos-club\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mysterious Case of the Chair of the F(icticious) C(haos) C(lub)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In light of sweeping actions across the federal government, simply put \u2014 the vibes are off at the Federal Communications Commission. I would say someone should call Andy Cohen to request that he bring the cameras down to 45 L Street but as an NBCUniversal company, would Bravo be denied access to the building because of\u2026 diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bravo camera crews aside, it must be said that the coveted seat of the Chair of the FCC used to be \u2014 and should still be \u2014 reserved for those who engage in robust, meaningful policy debates about how to make communication available \u201cso far as possible, to all the people of the United States.\u201d<\/a> It now appears that this seat is reserved for those who auditioned for years to hold an apple, peach, or whatever your preferred Real Housewives opening scene prop<\/a> may be by pandering to the \u201cmain character.\u201d An FCC Chair who spends most of his time cooking up controversies rather than solving real communications disparities should hold a tomato for being a purveyor of waste, fraud, and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing the Most While Doing the Least <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four months into his chairmanship, Brendan Carr has been using his seat to weaponize the FCC for political purposes. On his first day as FCC Chair, he acquiesced to his boss\u2019s Executive Order, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing<\/em><\/a>, by abruptly ending all \u201cDEI efforts\u201d at the FCC and alleged that the agency was previously \u201cpromoting invidious forms of discrimination<\/a>.\u201d I\u2019m going to let y\u2019all sit with that for a second because sometimes you just need to pause and process.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Over the last several weeks, Carr has sent dog whistles to Disney\/ABC,<\/a> Verizon<\/a>, Comcast\/NBCUniversal<\/a>, and other companies looking to the FCC to approve their merger proposals<\/a>. He purposefully misinterprets civil rights laws and says that the mere existence of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies are discriminatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Carr well knows, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives were created to ensure that the most talented people from all <\/em>communities have an opportunity<\/em> to be seen, included, and hired. These initiatives exist so this country can work to better meet its mission. At the end of the day, Carr\u2019s intellectual dishonesty is bewildering. Naturally, I have some questions: Is Carr fine with inherently discriminatory structures and institutions? Does Carr resent that there has been any semblance of progress towards racial equity? Does Carr believe that the existence of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives discriminate against <\/em>white people even when they benefit from these initiatives including those who are veterans, people with disabilities, rural communities, and women? I\u2019m asking questions to gain some clarity because Carr\u2019s claims thus far have been unfounded and illegitimate and these \u201cinvestigations\u201d that attempt to paint diversity, equity, and inclusion practices as \u201cinvidious forms of discrimination\u201d are a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Carr, like his boss, is engaged in the same overreach practices he accused the Biden administration of, such as when the FCC issued rules in November 2023 to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination, as directed by Congress. Carr described those rules as the agency\u2019s attempt to \u201cmicromanage\u201d and \u201ccontrol\u201d the communications sector through an \u201cintrusive new regime.\u201d Carr\u2019s statements on digital discrimination rules align perfectly with his 2025 leadership agenda. He could star in another That\u2019s So Raven <\/em>reboot <\/em>(assuming it would not be banned as a \u201cDEI\u201d television series) for his ability to predict the future. It appears he soft-launched his agenda when he said the digital discrimination rules were  \u201cmotivated by an ideology of government control that is not compatible with the fundamental precepts of free market capitalism.\u201d<\/a> Glass houses, my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Public Knowledge believes that facts still matter, let\u2019s dive into the data <\/em><\/strong>that illustrates existing disparities in the communications sector. In January 2025, the FCC\u2019s Seventh Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations<\/a> found the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n