Reporters Call for Carr's Impeachment

For the first time in its history, Reporters Without Borders is calling for the removal of a United States government official, urging the incoming Congress to impeach Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr.

According to a report from The Hill, the global press freedom organization is accusing Carr of “weaponizing” the agency to punish news outlets critical of President Donald Trump and his administration. RSF claims the FCC chair has repeatedly used the commission's regulatory authority to launch politically motivated probes and put his thumb on the scale of major media mergers to benefit the White House and its allies.

“Few individuals have been more instrumental to the White House’s campaign to weaken the First Amendment than Brendan Carr,” Clayton Weimers, executive director of RSF North America, said in a statement.

To back up its call for impeachment, RSF pointed directly to Carr’s high-profile clashes with broadcast networks,specifically zeroing in on his ongoing battles with ABC. Back in September 2025, Carr publicly warned the network of potential consequences over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, famously telling ABC, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

The situation escalated again in April when Carr ordered an early review of ABC’s broadcast licenses right after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump renewed their calls for Kimmel to be fired. That move prompted ABC and its parent company, Disney, to sue the FCC over what they alleged was a coordinated, retaliatory campaign against the network.

RSF also took aim at how the FCC handled the massive Paramount-Skydance Media merger in July 2025. The group noted that the agency signed off on the deal just weeks after Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit regarding the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Along with demanding Carr’s ouster, RSF is pushing the incoming Congress to make restoring the FCC’s independence a top priority.