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US headlines offended Trump. He’d better not watch Indian news channels’ Iran war coverage

Trump was enraged by what he called 'misleading headlines' about five US tanker planes reportedly hit in Saudi Arabia. He singled out NYT, WSJ, and other “Lowlife” newspapers.

It doesn’t happen only in India; it happens in the United States of America too.

Last week, this column dealt with the Indian government’s order to halt the publication of news television viewership ratings (TRPs) for four weeks, because it thought this move would curtail what it believed was  “sensational” coverage of the ongoing war between the US, Israel, and Iran.

On Saturday 14 March, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US, Brendan Carr, threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses for what he called “running hoaxes and news distortions.” He then warned them to “correct course before their license renewals come up.”

For the record, FCC’s authority over content standards is limited to over-the-air broadcasts on independent television stations; it doesn’t extend to other forms of programming, such as cable networks or streaming platforms. However, the FCC does have authority over the purchase and sale of media networks that hold FCC broadcast licences.

The FCC chairman’s reprimand came shortly after US President Donald Trump had launched his own personal missile attack against a favourite target: “The Fake News Media.”

Enraged by what he called “misleading headlines” about five US tanker planes reportedly hit in Saudi Arabia, he singled out The New York Times (NYT) and The Wall Street Journal for (WSJ) as well as other “Lowlife” newspapers for “terrible reporting” in a tweet on Truth Social.

The headline that so offended Trump in the WSJ read: ‘Five Air Force Refueling Planes Hit in Iranian Strike on Saudi........

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