FCC Democrat warns broadcasters to resist Trump’s media pressure tactics

Anna Gomez, the sole Democratic member of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called on the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to ramp up its response to pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump on major news networks and broadcast television stations in advance of the midterm elections on November 3.

“I would not be doing my job if I did not say plainly that the volume of that response has not yet matched the scale of what your members are facing,” Gomez said in a four-page letter to the industry group’s CEO and President Curtis LeGeyt on Thursday.

Gomez pointed to a recent assertion by Trump-appointed Brenden Carr, who claimed that administration channels could violate their regulatory obligations by airing “entirely fake polls” before the consequential midterm elections, which may determine which political party controls both houses of the US Congress.

“Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these Polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis,” Carr said in a post on the social media platform X.

Al Jazeera reached out to the FCC for clarity on which journalists and broadcasters allegedly aired fake polls and which polls he was referring to, but the agency did not address Al Jazeera’s inquiry.

Seth Stern, the chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, criticised Carr’s comments.

“Brendan Carr is not the journalism police. And he is just about the least qualified person in the country to lecture the press about journalistic ethics. The tell is that literally every time he attacks the press, it’s because of reporting that was unfavorable to his boss,” Stern said in a statement.

Carr said in his social media post that “Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes”.

“This Administration is running a coordinated, government-wide effort to reshape the media into its sanctioned messenger, and the Federal Communications Commission has become one of its most active instruments. That is playing out across several fronts. One of the most brazen efforts involves how this Commission has recently suggested that broadcasters who air polling that does not align with this Administration’s preferred narrative could face an FCC news distortion or broadcast hoax investigation,” Gomez said in her letter.

Gomez added that there is a high barrier for proof of news distortion for it to be actionable, saying that it only applies when a broadcaster “knowingly airs false information about a crime or catastrophe and that broadcast directly causes immediate and substantial harm to public safety or property”.

Gomez added that the agency does not have the authority to act unless there is clear evidence.

“Reporting the results of a poll this Administration happens to dislike does not come close to meeting those standards,” Gomez said.