FCC’s sole Democrat warns media companies against yielding to Trump
Anna Gomez, the only Democrat left on the Federal Communications Commission, said she remains focused on urging broadcasters not to yield to what she characterizes as FCC pressure tied to President Donald Trump’s approach to free speech. In an interview, Gomez described her warning to Disney as part of an effort to counter what she said is a pattern of FCC investigations aimed at bringing media companies “to heel.”
Gomez said she began writing after the start of the administration, when she grew “increasingly alarmed” by what she described as a campaign to control and censor speech. She said she also toured the country meeting journalists, local broadcasters, legal scholars and press-freedom advocates, then returned “with more of a conviction that we really needed to do something.”
She said her concerns intensified after what she called a cycle of broadcasters conceding to the FCC after legal disputes. Gomez pointed to CBS’s settlement with the president and what she said those terms required, and she said she grew more concerned after ABC settled a lawsuit, because she believed that pattern “breeds capitulation.” In that context, Gomez said she wrote the letter to “put on the record” what she described as actions taken by the FCC and to encourage Disney and other broadcasters to “stiffen their spine.”
Gomez wrote in a four-page letter earlier this month to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro that she described as calling out what she said was a sustained FCC effort against the company. She said she posted the letter to social media as well, and she described it as a message to Disney that did not seek immediate compliance so much as a pushback posture. Gomez said Disney’s decision to pay a $15 million defamation settlement shortly before Trump returned to office did not, in her view, set a helpful precedent for the rest of the industry, and she wrote: “That settlement did not buy you peace.” She added: “It only bought you time.”
Gomez said one of her central worries involves the FCC’s push for early reviews of ABC’s broadcast licenses in markets where Disney owns local stations, which she said she believes is an effort to intimidate the network. In her description of what the FCC has been investigating, Gomez cited matters she said include diversity practices, ABC’s moderation of a 2024 presidential debate, and the guests booked on “The View,” along with the administration’s calls for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired.
Gomez said she does not see her immediate objective as a single FCC confrontation but as raising pressure for companies to resist in ways that create an enforceable test in court. When asked by AP whether the ultimate goal is for a court to rule against the FCC, Gomez said that “what I want is for companies to push back” because, she said, “if this gets to court, any entity that challenges what this FCC is doing is going to win.”
She also addressed how the FCC’s role should work in a changing media environment. Gomez said the FCC traditionally licenses local broadcast stations and oversees spectrum used for broadcasting, and she described what she said should guide that process: competition, localism and viewpoint diversity. She said those principles include the FCC encouraging more voices “not fewer,” and she added that “being a censor is not the right role for the FCC.”
On her own tenure, Gomez said she has been a longtime FCC figure and a lawyer, but she said she did not expect her career would require such a direct stand on First Amendment issues. She said she and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr maintain a “collegial relationship” even when they disagree, and she said she works while expecting that she may “face the consequences for it.” She also said she checks whether Trump has fired her by looking at her phone each morning, describing it as a daily uncertainty.
Gomez said Carr has not publicly responded to her letter, but she said he signaled a “new approach” in a filing this month that accused the FCC of actions that could “chill critical protected speech.” With her term scheduled to end June 30, Gomez said she expects to keep serving and “to continue working and to continue speaking out as long as I can,” including serving for additional time if no successor is nominated and confirmed for her seat.