FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez

Jimmy Kimmel’s decision to keep his interview with a Senate candidate off the air shows just how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control has gone. This is now the second time in a matter of months that a late-night host has disclosed they had to bury an interview because of Federal Communications Commission intimidation, and there is no way to know how many other editorial decisions across the country have quietly been shaped by this same pressure.

In the final stretch of a national election, this Federal Communications Commission is unleashing a flood of coordinated campaign money into broadcast advertising, just as the Supreme Court has cleared the way for unlimited coordinated spending between parties and candidates. This unprecedented, last-minute decision gives the biggest political spenders an even bigger advantage over everyone else by expanding the candidate-only discount established by law to joint fundraising and party committees, an advantage that will make it hard for anyone else to catch up before Election Day.

To be honest, when I joined the Federal Communications Commission, I did not expect that defending the First Amendment would become one of the central fights of my career. But that is exactly where we find ourselves today. For almost two years, I have watched this administration wage a deliberate campaign of censorship and control against broadcasters and journalists. That is part of why I launched my First Amendment Tour, and what I heard on the road surprised me. People from every corner of the country are united in their concern about what this FCC is doing to press freedom.

This unlawful effort to hand control of the public airwaves to billionaire buddies of this administration will destroy local newsrooms, silence community reporting, and drive up costs for the American families who depend on local stations for news and emergency alerts. A free and diverse media landscape depends on real limits on how much of the public airwaves any one company can control, and this FCC is now poised to allow local broadcasters to sell those airwaves off to the highest bidder.

On November 13, 2025, a bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission officials filed a Petition for Special Relief with the Commission seeking a repeal of the FCC’s news distortion policy and subsequently filed a petition for mandamus with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia seeking to compel action by the FCC on such petition.

This decision puts at risk how Congress intended independent agencies to function in American democracy. When Congress established the Federal Communications Commission, it made a deliberate choice to create a multi-member, multi-party, independent body insulated from political pressure precisely because the decisions this agency makes about who can speak over the public airwaves, how spectrum is allocated, and how communications markets are regulated, are too consequential to be made on the basis of political loyalty.

Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez sent a letter to Walt Disney Company CEO Josh D'Amaro documenting the record of the Trump Administration's campaign of censorship and control against Disney, calling out the FCC's double standard in its selective enforcement against the company, and encouraging Disney to continue fighting. The letter marks the first formal communication to Disney's leadership from a federal regulator since D'Amaro assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Once again, this FCC pretends it has the power to control news coverage. In reality, the FCC has vanishingly little power over national news networks. It licenses local broadcast stations, not networks, and no licenses are up for renewal until 2028. Early renewal attempts are exceedingly rare, and the process is so demanding that any effort would almost certainly fail, especially given the well-documented First Amendment violations underlying these moves.

Connectivity should be treated as an essential service, not used as a political tool. The biggest barrier to closing the digital divide today is affordability. We should be focused on making communications more affordable for families across the country to ensure that more people are connected and equipped with the tools they need to get a job, earn a living, receive an education, access healthcare, receive emergency services, and participate in civic life.

Federal Communications Commissioner spoke about the rapid consolidation of media ownership at the State of the Net Conference on February 9, 2025. "The lines that once separated communications markets no longer exist," said Commissioner Gomez.