How US media consolidation endangers press freedom

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a government agency that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in the United States. Although the agency is supposed to be independent of the executive branch, recent actions by the FCC and comments by its chairman, Brendan Carr, represent a worrying politicization of the agency.

In particular, rather than keeping media consolidation in check, the agency has instead wielded its authority over broadcast licenses – often in clear violation of its own norms and regulations – so that a concentrated number of companies now control an expanding share of what Americans watch.

This consolidation of outlets in the hands of a few owners – who have signaled willingness to comply editorially with the current US administration – carries significant implications for the public’s right to know.

Here are five things you need to know about media consolidation and the threats it poses to press freedom in the United States:

• Media consolidation on the rise In 1983, 90% of American media companies were owned by 50 companies. Today, almost all media is controlled by six corporations: Comcast, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance, Sony, and Amazon. The FCC allowed the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media to proceed in 2025 after CBS settled a $16 million lawsuit filed by President Trump over the editing of a 2024 interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

• Local impact Owners of local broadcast stations also face the same rapid consolidation. With the latest Tegna-Nexstar merger, approved by the FCC in March 2026, one company will now cover 80% of U.S. TV-watching households. Eight attorneys general across the nation sued to block the merger, saying it violated antitrust laws. Trump supported Nexstar’s merger, saying it would ‘help knock out the Fake News.”    

• Censorship pressures When a company dominates the airwaves, if it chooses to censor or skew the news or other content, its manipulations will reach much broader audiences. Nexstar, for instance, blocked its affiliates from broadcasting the Jimmy Kimmel late-night ABC television show following criticism from the Trump administration.

• News quality deteriorates Where media consolidation occurs, cost cuts and shortcuts often follow. Local news is substituted for “news duplication” across multiple stations and staff reductions. This, combined with the growth of so-called “news deserts” across the United States, as well as recent federal defunding of public broadcasting, has made it increasingly difficult for Americans across the country to access a plurality of local, fact-based news sources. As local news sources and journalism jobs shrink, coverage skews to serve one political party or agenda, and consumers pay more but get less information.

• Threat to democracy The result, experts say, is a threat to democracy that puts press freedom at the mercy of fewer and vastly wealthier owners whose fortunes may depend on government laws and support, which explains why many of them have bowed to the demands of the Trump administration. Attempting to silence critical reporting through regulation is a hallmark of countries experiencing democratic backsliding, as well as authoritarianism. CPJ has documented the ways in which fewer media choices lead to more compliance with government narratives in different countries, including Hungary, India, Malaysia and Venezuela.