FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez Will Fight for Press Freedom—Until Trump Fires Her

If you’ve given much thought to the Federal Communications Commission in recent years, it probably had something to do with Brendan Carr. The group’s chairman since 2025, Carr has been on an ongoing, public rampage against freedom of speech: he’s gone after late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over Iran war coverage, and targeted networks for their DEI policies.Disturbing as Carr’s rhetoric and actions have been, he does count at least one opponent within the agency: Commissioner Anna Gomez, currently the lone Democrat among three FCC commissioners, has been vocal about the damage she thinks the agency is doing to American press freedom—and has repeatedly urged the public and the press, namely major networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, to fight back.In May, Commissioner Gomez penned a stunning public letter to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, wherein she warned that the company—which owns ABC—was being subjected to “a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control, carried out through the weaponization of the FCC’s authority as a federal regulator and aimed at pressuring a free and independent press.” Gomez urged D’Amaro to fight the actions her own agency was taking, adding that “this is a fight worth having, and one that I am confident you will win.”I wanted to talk to Commissioner Gomez about that bold letter, the risks she sees for the media and the American public under the Trump administration, and how she works alongside a chairman with whom she disagrees so fiercely. Gomez, whose FCC term ends this month, was generous enough to sit down and talk about all of it. You can read our conversation below, or listen to it on the podcast platform of your choice.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.KATIE DRUMMOND: Welcome, Commissioner Gomez. Thank you for being here.ANNA GOMEZ: Thanks. It's great to be here.I want to start, before we talk more about Disney and your letter and all the rest of it, with a very basic question for our listeners. What is your agency’s basic role? Give me FCC 101. What does the FCC do?Well, the FCC is the nation's telecommunications and communications regulator. In broad strokes, our job is to make sure that everyone in the country is connected, for example, to high-speed broadband; to issue licenses for the airwaves like we do with your cell phones, with satellites, and with broadcasters; to protect consumers, such as our constant battle with robocallers.The worst, yes.To ensure public safety has what it needs to do its job, usually meaning through the airwaves, and to ensure that innovation can move forward, say by negotiating internationally for the use of the airwaves, so that we can have new products and services.To be clear, the FCC regulates what goes out over the air—so radio, television—but it does not regulate, for example, cable or streaming services or digital content? So this podcast, for example. Or if you turn on your TV and you decide to watch Netflix instead of deciding to watch a TV channel, those would not be within the purview of the FCC.That’s correct. Our authority really stems from our ability to license the airwaves to these broadcasters. We have very minimal cable regulations, but for the most part, we only regulate broadcast television.You’ve been with the FCC in various roles for many years. You were sworn in as commissioner in 2023. What does a commissioner actually do? Tell us a little bit about your job day to day.Normally there are five commissioners, so we are a multimember agency. And the reason you want that is because you want to have a diversity of expertise and opinions. What commissioners do is they vote to adopt new rules, or they vote to approve major mergers, which really means transfers control of licenses, and to propose new rules.The chair is basically designated to oversee the management of the agency, but the commissioners also often vote on management-type issues, creation of offices, or lead staffing