FCC commissioner joins Disney’s free-speech fight
Walt Disney Co. has found an active ally in its fight against the Federal Communications Commission: one of the panel’s three commissioners.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez — the only Democrat on the panel — took the rare step of sending a letter to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro on Monday to describe what she sees as a pressure campaign aimed at weakening not only Disney’s ABC network, but all media outlets that provide critical coverage of President Trump.
“What Disney and ABC face is not a series of haphazard regulatory actions but a sustained and coordinated campaign of censorship and control, carried out through the weaponization of the FCC’s authority as a federal regulator,” Gomez wrote.
The FCC’s efforts were essentially aimed at “pressuring a free and independent press and all media into submission,” Gomez wrote in the four-page missive to D’Amaro, Disney’s new chief executive.
His move comes after the FCC, in a highly unusual move, launched an initial review of the broadcast licenses of Disney-owned ABC stations, including KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles. Disney owns eight resorts and its licenses are not expected to expire for two to five years.
The FCC also asked Houston’s Disney Television Station to explain why the ABC daytime show, “The View,” should qualify for an exemption from equal time rules for politicians whose opponent appears on a show.
Disney said “The View” received an exemption — widely used among news programs — in 2002. Last Thursday, Disney sent a scathing letter to the FCC, challenging its investigation into “The View.”
Gomez has been outspoken about the tactics of her colleague — Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr — and the dangers she believes some of the FCC’s actions pose to 1st Amendment freedoms. Monday’s letter intensified its criticism and gives Disney powerful ammunition to use in its legal battle against the FCC.
Disney and the FCC had no immediate comment.
Gomez, a telecommunications lawyer, listed four key events, which began when Disney decided to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump a month after he was re-elected to a second term. Some free speech experts said Disney had a chance of winning the case, based on erroneous statements made by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos.
However, Disney agreed to pay $15 million in late 2024 to make the deal go away.
“Whatever the legal calculations behind this decision, its effect was immediate and unmistakable,” Gomez wrote. “He told this administration that pressure was working. He told every other business watching that capitulation was an option. And he opened the door to all the actions that followed.”
Gomez said the administration’s goal was not to issue challenges that the FCC would have to defend in court, but rather to get TV stations to self-censor and moderate their news coverage to avoid getting dragged into fights with the president and Carr.
“Most [FCC investigations] are intended never to be brought to an enforcement conclusion that could be subject to judicial review,” Gomez wrote. “That’s because the threat is the important point. »
