The Trump administration’s communications licensing tsar fired a warning shot over the US broadcasting industry Saturday, threatening to cancel the spectrum permits of broadcasters pushing what he termed “hoaxes and news distortions”.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr posted on social media that broadcasters running “fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

The FCC has control over the electromagnetic spectrum, colloquially termed the airwaves, including “commercial and non-commercial fixed and mobile wireless services, broadcast television and radio, satellite and other services” under the Communications Act of 1934.

Carr’s warning comes amid sustained complaints from Trump and members of the administration over its treatment by what it derisively terms “the mainstream media” and what it considers unflattering or unpatriotic coverage of the conflict in Iran.

In his post, Carr copied a Truth Social post by Trump complaining about “misleading” coverage on Iran.

“Yet again, an intentionally misleading headline by the Fake News Media about the five tanker planes that were supposedly struck down at an Airport in Saudi Arabia, and of no further use,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social.

Trump singled out the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, saying that they “and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War”, calling the outlets’ reporting “the exact opposite of the actual facts!”

“They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America,” he added.

Trump’s comments came after defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of being thin-skinned about his portrayals in the media and attempting to restrict credentialled reporters from the Pentagon, lambasted the media’s coverage of the conflict.

Hegseth offered a lengthy dissection on Friday of what he termed “fake news” in relation to reporting on US-Israeli action in Iran.

“Some in this crew, in the press, just can’t stop. Allow me to make a few suggestions. People look up at the TV and they see banners, they see headlines. I used to be in that business. And I know that everything is written intentionally,” he said.

Hegseth singled out headlines reading “Mideast war intensifies” alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets hit by Iran.

“How about, ‘Iran increasingly desperate’?” he said.

Hegseth then referenced the acquisition of CNN parent Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount Skydance, owned by multibillionaire Larry Ellison and son David Ellison. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said.

In his first interview as Paramount CEO last week, Ellison pledged to support editorial independence at CNN where staff have registered anxiety at the the change in ownership and potential implications for its editorial stance.

“CNN is an incredible brand with an incredible team,” Ellison said, “and we absolutely believe in the independence that needs to be maintained, obviously, for those incredible journalists, and we want to support that going forward.”

In his post on Saturday, Carr said without any evidence that it was in the news industry’s “own business interests since trust in legacy media has now fallen to an all time low of just 9% and are ratings disasters”.

He indicated he could use access to the broadcast and communications spectrum, which is considered a public asset, to rectify the issue, setting up another potential clash between the government and the media.

“The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves,” Carr wrote. “It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news”.

Carr also raised an archival gripe about media reporting of the 2024 election, which widely predicted a Democratic presidential victory when in fact the Republican candidate – Trump – won a plurality of the popular vote.

“When a political candidate is able to win a landslide election victory after in the face of hoaxes and distortions, there is something very wrong,” Carr said. “It means the public has lost faith and confidence in the media”.