The only Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission urged the broadcast industry on Friday to take a more aggressive approach in confronting the Trump administration's actions toward major US networks and stations.
A local broadcast television studio. Photo: Daniel McAnulty, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Commissioner Anna Gomez told the National Association of Broadcasters that the industry has been too quiet in the face of what she called a coordinated campaign against broadcasters on several fronts — including a warning from FCC Chair Brendan Carr that US broadcast networks could violate their regulatory obligations by airing "entirely fake polls" before the November 3 election.
'A coordinated, government-wide effort'
"This administration is running a coordinated, government-wide effort to reshape the media into its sanctioned messenger," Gomez warned. She said Carr was seeking to pressure networks into not running polls the administration dislikes, which she argued was improper.
Gomez said the NAB had been "largely quiet through the first year of this censorship and control campaign," while acknowledging it had not stayed completely silent. "An industry confronting a coordinated effort to turn licensing authority into leverage over election-year coverage needs more than a couple of tempered statements," she added.
The pressure points
Carr, who has repeatedly faced pressure from President Donald Trump to crack down on US broadcasters and journalists, in April ordered an unprecedented early license review for all eight of Disney's company-owned ABC television stations. The FCC has also said this year that late-night and daytime talk shows are no longer bona fide news programs exempt from equal-time rules for interviews with political candidates. The NAB said in April that the Disney decision "creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters."
A spokesperson for Carr did not immediately comment on Gomez's remarks. NAB President Curtis LeGeyt responded to Gomez in a statement, saying the group appreciated her "recognition of the value of local broadcasters and her commitment to the First Amendment principles that underpin a free press," and that it would keep working with policymakers "to protect broadcasters' rights."
Why it matters now
The clash comes less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, when broadcast coverage — and the polls that shape how races are reported — is at its most sensitive. Gomez's speech puts the industry's trade group on public notice that at least one of its regulators believes silence is no longer a safe strategy.
Sources: Reuters.