Throughout his first term, and now after a year back in the White House, Donald Trump continues to launch frequent attacks on the media. The president has filed dozens of lawsuits targeting newspapers, TV networks and social media companies, either demanding millions of dollars in damages or threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcast outlets that carry reporting or commentary critical of his administration.
Regrettably, these intimidation tactics have often succeeded in causing some of the nation’s most powerful media companies to surrender to Trump by paying out millions of dollars in settlements in frivolous lawsuits, or being pressured to cancel programs like CBS late night TV host Stephen Colbert—and the short-lived suspension of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel, until a major public backlash brought him back.
Media mergers involving broadcast licenses, which require FCC approval, strengthens Trump’s ability to influence and potentially censor the content of media companies. Evidence of MAGA political censorship can clearly be seen at CBS, which in 2025 was taken over by Paramount Skydance, controlled by Trump allies David and Larry Ellison. In December, a segment critical of Trump set to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, CBS’s newsmagazine was cancelled and the new CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil has been widely criticized for kowtowing to the Trump regime. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat serving on the Federal Communications Commission who was appointed by President Biden in 2023. Here, she condemns the FCC’s dangerous use of intimidation and censorship that threatens Americans’ free speech rights.
ANNA GOMEZ: It does alarm me what this administration is doing to silence critics, pressure media companies into providing it positive coverage and retaliating against anyone that disagrees with. And this is inconsistent, to put it mildly, with our obligations to comport with the First Amendment and our Communications Act, which specifically prohibits us from censoring broadcasters.
What this administration has done is it has weaponized any authority it has in order to control speech and control media. And the FCC has been doing this on its behalf. What we saw with the Jimmy Kimmel episode was just very public, but we are seeing this day after day after day, whether it’s threatening reporters with jail time or threatening to revoke licenses or pressuring local broadcasters to preempt programming that this administration doesn’t like. And it’s important that we keep in mind that our actions at the FCC have to be grounded in the First Amendment and the Communications Act prohibition on censorship of broadcasters.
What this FCC is doing is it is sending a signal to all the local broadcasters that it must air programming that it likes and not air programming that it doesn’t like, or this FCC is going to retaliate against them. The FCC is using this vague standard that they call the public interest standard, which by the way, there is a public interest obligation to the broadcasters to serve their local communities. The problem is the FCC’s weaponizing that standard and using it very vaguely to mean anything it doesn’t like. If a broadcaster broadcasts Jimmy Kimmel, then that doesn’t meet their public interest obligations. So I’m very concerned. I’m very vigilant of this. This is why I embarked on a First Amendment tour because I need everyone to see what is happening and to push back against this administration because we don’t want to see the fraying of our constitutional freedoms and the free press.
SCOTT HARRIS: Given some of the alarming ways in which the Trump administration’s FCC is attempting to censor political speech that it opposes, as we’ve talked about here, there’s a natural tendency for people in broadcast media to be fearful about lines they might cross that could end their careers, get their media outlets in trouble, incur huge monetary fines that nobody can afford.
Do you believe that media producers and news reporters, commentators should respond to this new environment by self-censoring or consciously keeping a low profile to avoid public criticism that could result their popping up on the FCC’s radar and suffering penalties? I see a lot of this firsthand being involved in community media where our budgets are tiny. We’re always on the edge of bankruptcy and there’s little or no capacity to hire high-priced lawyers to defend themselves, ourselves. There’s a lot of fear out there. And I’m wondering in this very troubled time in terms of free speech and censorship in the United States and the role the FCC has taken, you excepting, of course, there’s a lot of fear out there.
And I’m wondering what your advice would be to broadcasters in terms of should they just avoid criticizing this administration until there’s a new administration in power?
ANNA GOMEZ: The threats are the point because that is exactly what the administration wants. The administration wants to bring every reporter to heel so that it can tell viewers and listeners what it wants to tell, and there is no pushback. And that is exactly why we have freedom of the press and that is exactly why it’s important to protect the press. The press holds power to account. It’s very uncomfortable. I don’t enjoy it when I get probing questions from a reporter. But it’s important that we respect that for our democracy. And you’re exactly right that there is fear everywhere. The chilling is happening actively and that is why I’m conducting this First Amendment tour because I’m trying to inspire people to push back because if we don’t push back, then what we are allowing is our democracy to fray and we lose our constitutional freedoms.
For more information, visit Anna Gomez’s FCC webpage.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Anna Gomez (29:26) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the related links section of this page. See more articles and opinion pieces in the related links section of this page. For periodic updates on the Trump authoritarian playbook, subscribe here to our Between The Lines Radio Newsmagazine Substack newsletter to get updates to our “Hey AmeriKKKa, It’s Not Normal” compilation.
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