Recently, Trump called on the FCC to revoke the broadcast licenses of two networks over a programming decision, but one member of that very commission says that’s simply not how any of this works.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the only Democrat serving on the five-person commission, took Trump’s threat apart in a single statement. “It is ridiculous to call for broadcasters to lose their license simply for making the same editorial decisions they’ve made under presidents of both parties,” she said.
“Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech. This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it.”
The dispute traces back to Trump’s 25-minute election security address from the East Room.
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CBS, Fox and the CW aired it on their broadcast channels. ABC and NBC pushed it to their streaming platforms instead. CNN didn’t carry it live at all, and MSNBC cut away after the opening minutes.
Trump responded by naming names during the speech itself. “They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left,” he said, before adding: “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multi-billion dollar in value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing.”
This isn’t the first time Gomez has had to explain why that particular threat doesn’t work the way Trump seems to think it does.
Back in September, after Trump grew irritated at a question from an ABC reporter, he said the network’s affiliate licenses should be “taken away.”
Gomez laid out the mechanics of why that was mostly bluster. “The FCC is powerless to truly retaliate against a news network. National networks do not have broadcast licenses, the stations they own do, but none of these licenses is up for renewal anytime soon,” she said. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, offered a noticeably softer response to the same question, saying the commission remained “always open minded” about revisiting public interest standards.
Carr’s actions haven’t matched the mildness of his language, though.
Under his leadership, the FCC has already ordered ABC to submit its eight owned-and-operated station licenses for early renewal, an unusual step that opens those licenses up to public challenge outside the normal cycle. ABC hasn’t taken that quietly, calling the move an “extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion.”
Carr has connected the early renewal push to a separate probe into the network’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and he’s also opened a broader review of how national networks structure their agreements with local affiliate owners, framed around giving local stations more freedom to decline national programming.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
