Gomez Blasts White House and Carr in Media Institute Speech
The White House’s pattern of removing dissenting officials from independent agencies is “vividly illustrative” of the administration’s fear and weakness, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez in a speech for The Media Institute Thursday. “Even when this administration holds so much power, it cannot tolerate disagreement or dissent,” Gomez said. “And if I’m removed from my seat on the commission, let it be said plainly: It wasn’t because I failed to do my job. It’s because I insisted on doing it." Congress has always intended for the FCC to be independent, she noted. During the creation of the FCC's predecessor Federal Radio Commission, Congress considered giving power over the airwaves to the commerce secretary, she said. That idea was struck down “specifically because Congress feared that a single individual, subject to political will, would possess too much control” over radio.
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Gomez also blasted FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for immediately slashing the agency’s diversity programs at the outset of his tenure. “I have always believed that your first action in any role reveals your priorities,” she said. “This FCC’s first action was not about closing the digital divide or protecting network security” but instead eliminating “anything that even resembled diversity, equity or inclusion.”
Gomez said the challenges she now faces as an FCC commissioner aren't what she ever expected, and that the agency’s recent actions are a danger to democracy. “Imagine your local TV or radio station goes dark because the FCC doesn’t like something an anchor said,” Gomez said. “That’s not just a media story. That’s a threat to public safety.” FCC and White House efforts to “censor and control” media outlets appear to be working, Gomez said. “Some media outlets are finding it is easier to retreat in the face of government threats, veiled or otherwise, than to be responsive to their audiences.”