nonprofit
Fcc Censorship

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

First Amendment advocacy organization whose chief counsel condemned the FCC's selective enforcement as 'naked partisanship' and accused Carr of becoming the speech police he once opposed.

Response to the Colbert Controversy

FIRE issued a formal statement through Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere that made two central arguments:

  1. The FCC was engaged in selective, partisan enforcement — targeting late-night shows that criticized the Trump administration while exempting conservative talk radio
  2. The chilling effect was the intended outcome — even without formal sanctions, implicit regulatory threats were sufficient to produce self-censorship

FIRE had also condemned the September 2025 suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live, establishing a consistent position against government pressure on broadcast media regardless of the political content being targeted.