The lone Democratic appointee on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now openly condemning President Donald Trump’s administration over what she alleges is a “campaign of censorship and control” against a major media outlet.
During a Monday interview on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,” FCC commissioner Anna Gomez — who was appointed to her position by former President Joe Biden — slammed both the Trump administration and FCC chairman Brendan Carr for the conditions imposed on CBS prior to approving parent company Paramount’s merger with Skydance. When Melber asked Gomez if the merger was done “in a traditional and proper way,” she strongly disagreed.
“What you’re seeing here is the weaponization of the FCC as part of this administration’s campaign of censorship and control,” she said. “It exerted pressure on the company in order to gain ideological and financial concessions and favored coverage.”
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This month, the Trump administration approved the $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger, notably after Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit against CBS’ “60 Minutes” for $16 million and cancelled “The Late Show,” hosted by prominent Trump critic Stephen Colbert. Gomez, who was put onto the three-member commission in 2023, said the circumstances surrounding the merger were “absolutely unprecedented.”
“The First Amendment and the Communications Act prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcasters,” Gomez said. “And in this case, what you saw was Paramount agreeing to self-censor based on content that this administration doesn’t like. And that is a direct violation of our First Amendment.”
Gomez clarified that as a minority on the FCC, her only power is in her ability to dissent against official policies. However, she called on Americans to “stand up and push back” against the administration’s “attempt to censor and control” media companies. She warned that Trump will “use any leverage of power that it has to force corporations to bend to its will,” adding that it was “particularly worrisome” for the state of democracy in the United States for a president to bully the free press into silencing dissent within its own ranks.
The Democratic FCC appointee’s remarks come on the heels of Carr announcing on far-right network Newsmax that, as part of its settlement agreement, Paramount agreed to have a government-appointed “bias monitor” rein in criticism of Trump at CBS. Carr added that this official would report “directly to the president.“
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Watch Gomez’s segment below, or by clicking this link.
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