--- title: Donald Trump: Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked description: President Donald Trump once again said that "partisan" network news should have its licenses revoked canonical: https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-12T00:48:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:49:28.225Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump: 'Partisan' Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked og:description: Even though network news stations don't have FCC broadcast licenses og:url: https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62a40f6115dbbb63/6988e1884ee262781530f5d1/gettyimages-860282414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump: 'Partisan' Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked twitter:description: Even though network news stations don't have FCC broadcast licenses twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62a40f6115dbbb63/6988e1884ee262781530f5d1/gettyimages-860282414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says 'Partisan' Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 12, 2017 12:48 AM UTC  US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on October 11, 2017. US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on October 11, 2017. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 12, 2017 12:48 AM UTC President Donald Trump sent a second tweet Wednesday night about what he deemed the partisan nature of network news, threatening to challenge and revoke their licenses. “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!” Trump tweeted on Wednesday night. The tweet came after Trump returned to Washington D.C. from Pennsylvania, where he was giving a speech on tax reform — and shortly before he was set to appear in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918267396493922304) But Trump wouldn’t be able to revoke any licenses from news networks. As the FCC [notes on its website,](https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting) the organization only provides licenses to individual stations; it does not license television or radio networks. The tweet capped off a day of attacks lodged at the media. Wednesday morning, after [NBC News reported](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701) that Trump had alarmed members of his administration by requesting a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal — which he categorically denied as “pure fiction” and “fake news” — he had tweeted that it may be “appropriate” to challenge network news licenses. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918112884630093825) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918110279367643137) Later on Wednesday, Trump told reporters when asked about the NBC report, “it is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write and people should look into it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/"},"headline":"President Trump Says 'Partisan' Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked","datePublished":"2017-10-12T00:48:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:49:28.225Z","description":"Even though network news stations don't have FCC broadcast licenses","url":"https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62a40f6115dbbb63/6988e1884ee262781530f5d1/gettyimages-860282414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62a40f6115dbbb63/6988e1884ee262781530f5d1/gettyimages-860282414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4979000/donald-trump-nbc-news-network-licenses-revoked/","name":"President Trump Says 'Partisan' Network News Could Have Licenses Revoked"}}]}] ```