Push back against Trump to protect ‘precious liberties,’ lone Democrat on FCC urges Kentuckians
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
FLEMING-NEON — Anna Gomez doesn’t know how long she’ll remain on the Federal Communications Commission under President Donald Trump. But for the time being, she says she’s speaking out against “this administration’s campaign of censorship and control.”
“It is my responsibility to respond to these attacks on the First Amendment,” Gomez told a small gathering in Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday. “I refuse to stay quiet while the government chips away at fundamental rights by weaponizing our regulatory authority.”
Gomez is one of three current commissioners — the only Democrat among them — overseeing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent federal agency that regulates a broad range of communications industries, including television, radio, satellite, internet and cable.
Traditionally, the agency has overseen the licensing of television and radio stations, taken on initiatives such as combating robocalls and worked to expand internet access across the country. But actions launched by the FCC in the months since the Trump administration has returned to power have greatly troubled Gomez.
Under FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican confirmed by the U.S. Senate during President Donald Trump’s first term, the regulator has launched investigations into public media stations’ use of sponsorships; opened a probe into the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Comcast, the parent company for NBC News; and revived complaints that media coverage was biased against Trump.
”The FCC has targeted the editorial decisions of news networks, independent reporting by public media and internal labor practices by private companies. These are dangerous and unprecedented actions by an independent government regulator,” Gomez said.
Gomez has embarked on a nationwide tour advocating for First Amendment rights and speaking out against what she sees as Trump administration actions to undermine those rights. Her first two stops were in two of the country’s largest cities, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., but her latest stop Wednesday was at a community center in the Letcher County community of Fleming-Neon, population around 500.
She said recent FCC actions are especially troubling because media corporations targeted by Trump and the FCC also have business before the FCC.
One example Gomez poses: CBS News and its parent company Paramount.
One of the FCC’s revived complaints over media coverage centers on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” news magazine show. Trump had sued the show over claims that an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was deceitfully edited, something CBS News’ parent company Paramount has denied.
Paramount is trying to settle the Trump lawsuit at the same time it is seeking approval from the Trump-appointed FCC for a merger with media company Skydance. As lawsuit settlement discussions continue, both the executive producer of “60 Minutes” and the president and CEO of CBS News have resigned. Bill Owens, the 60 Minutes executive producer, had said he could no longer lead the show independently.
“The FCC is supposed to make decisions based on law, facts and technical expertise, not politics,” Gomez said. “We need journalists who feel free to report the truth even when it cuts against our own political biases, and corporate parents who give journalists the independence they need.”
The Lantern sought the FCC’s response to Gomez’s criticisms by emailing an address associated with Republican FCC Chair Carr but received no response by late Wednesday.
Gomez also doesn’t know how long she’ll be in her position. Other members of independent agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission have been fired by Trump this year. She said she checks her email daily to see if she’s next, even though she plans to continue her tour even if the Trump administration seeks to remove her.
“I don’t know why I haven’t been fired. I have not been quiet,” Gomez said.
‘Speak their truth’
Other members of the panel Gomez joined in Letcher County were also not quiet in advocating for rights protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition one’s government with grievances.
Other panelists included a journalist, a church deacon, a former Democratic Kentucky state representative and the leaders of Letcher County nonprofits Appalshop, the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center and the Center for Rural Strategies which organized the event.
“People being able to speak their truth is what is going to really be healing for our country,” said Tiffany Sturdivant, the executive director of the media, arts and education center Appalshop in Whitesburg. “I want us to really, really be brave. Freedom of speech is to me — it’s about telling the truth and not being afraid of that.”
Wading through the near-instant accessibility of information and news sources is a different challenge, though. Sturdivant said people should try to “seek out the truth for themselves” and have conversations in person and in their communities beyond social media.
While stereotypes about Eastern Kentucky are perpetuated in the national media, she said, there can be “something special” about having an in-person conversation that can dispel those narratives.
Wes Addington, executive director of the nonprofit law firm Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, told the gathered audience that it was up to people to continue to advocate for the right to petition one’s government — specifically in court before a judge.
Another panelist, author and former Democratic Kentucky state Rep. Bill Weinberg, mentioned how Elon Musk had at one point called for the impeachment of judges who defy or delay the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the federal government.
Addington responded by saying while some court decisions go down in history as deplorable — such as the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II — decisions can be reversed. But not abiding by decisions in real time is “when you cross that line.”
“When the decisions of the Supreme Court become something you can decide in the moment whether you’re going to follow or not,” Addington said, “that’s when you lose what this country was founded on.”
Gomez said hearing from the other panelists reaffirmed her belief in the need for journalism and the need to protect journalism.
“A lot of people that I speak to tell me they’re tired. It’s a little too soon to be tired,” Gomez said. “We need to take care of our precious liberties, and the way that we do that is by being aware and by speaking up and pushing back.”
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