Staff Reports
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr didn’t mince words when he sat down with Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle, calling the national news media “wildly out of touch” with ordinary Americans. His blunt assessment came amid a growing backlash against elite outlets that have lost credibility by peddling narratives that don’t match people’s lived experience.
Carr drove the point home with a striking statistic: a survey shows more Americans would eat “gas station sushi” than say they trust the legacy national media, with only single-digit trust in those institutions. That crude comparison isn’t just colorful rhetoric — it’s a warning light that the media’s detachment has real consequences for public confidence.
He singled out glaring examples of elite puffery, noting how outlets elevated fringe takes — like declaring Colin Kaepernick the “most important” figure around the Super Bowl — while missing what actually mattered to ordinary fans. This is exactly why working Americans tune out: when reporters chase headlines for clicks instead of reporting the facts, they forfeit their role as watchdogs.
Carr didn’t stop at criticism; he accused the legacy press of running hoaxes and moving in a single partisan direction, a pattern that reinforces the perception of institutional bias. When media organizations behave like activist clubs instead of impartial institutions, they erode the very trust that democracy depends on.
Part of Carr’s prescription is to champion local newsrooms and empower outlets that still do real reporting for their communities, rather than kowtowing to coastal narratives. The FCC chair argues the agency should help bolster those local voices that remain accountable to their neighbors, not New York or D.C. elites.
Conservatives should salute that stance and demand action: stop subsidizing a media class that treats patriotism as a punchline and start investing in reporting that holds power to account across the political spectrum. If the national press wants back its credibility, it must stop lecturing and start listening to the people who pay the bills and fight for this country every day.
Americans are tired of being told what to think by a self-appointed cultural elite; Brendan Carr’s remarks are a clarion call to restore common-sense journalism and reclaim the truth. It’s time for policymakers, consumers, and honest journalists to stop pretending everything is fine and to rebuild a media ecosystem worthy of the American people.
