Anna Gomez urges broadcasters’ group to push back on FCC polling warning
The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner asked the National Association of Broadcasters to respond more forcefully after Chairman Brendan Carr warned stations about airing polls he called fake.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez urged the National Association of Broadcasters on October 22 to push back more forcefully against warnings to stations about their election coverage, according to Al Jazeera. Her letter to the US broadcasters’ trade group came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned that airing polls he called fake could raise regulatory concerns ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
Gomez, the commission’s sole Democratic member, sent the four-page letter to the group’s president and CEO, Curtis LeGeyt. ‘The volume of that response has not yet matched the scale of what your members are facing,’ she wrote, according to Al Jazeera. Deadline separately reported that she urged the broadcast lobby to challenge Carr’s warning and help stations understand what the law requires as they cover the election.
What prompted Gomez’s letter
Carr said some journalists and broadcasters had aired polls without telling audiences that the polls lacked a scientific, accurate or real basis, Al Jazeera reported. He advised broadcasters to avoid ‘News Distortions’ and ‘Broadcast Hoaxes.’ Al Jazeera asked the FCC which polls and outlets Carr meant, but said the agency did not address its inquiry. The identity of the polls at issue therefore remains unclear.
Gomez accused the Trump administration of trying to reshape the media and described the FCC as an active part of that effort, according to Al Jazeera. She argued that suggesting stations could face a news-distortion or broadcast-hoax investigation for airing unfavorable polling could pressure their election coverage. Deadline reported that her letter warned of a chilling effect on broadcasters.
The FCC rules Gomez cited
Gomez said a news-distortion case requires documented evidence that a broadcaster intentionally deceived the public, Deadline reported. She also described the broadcast-hoax rule as applying to knowingly false information about a crime or catastrophe that directly causes immediate and substantial harm to public safety or property. In her view, reporting a poll the administration dislikes falls short of those standards, Al Jazeera reported.
A National Association of Broadcasters spokesperson welcomed Gomez’s recognition of local broadcasters and said the group would continue working with her and other policymakers to protect broadcasters’ rights, according to Deadline. The outlet said an FCC spokesperson had not immediately returned its request for comment. The immediate issue for stations is how to cover polling before the November 3 vote amid the chairman’s warning and Gomez’s challenge to its legal basis.
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Sources and context
- FCC Democrat warns broadcasters to resist Trump’s media pressure tacticsAl Jazeera
- FCC's Democrat Calls On Broadcast Lobby To Push Back On Brendan CarrDeadline
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.