Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, is calling on the broadcast lobby to push back on chairman Brendan Carr‘s warning that stations could be subject to regulatory review for airing who he deemed as “fake polls.”
In Gomez’s letter to the National Association of Broadcasters’ president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt, she wrote that “every station covering the upcoming midterm elections needs to understand what the law actually requires before that threat has its intended chilling effect.”
In his social media post earlier this week, Carr cited the FCC’s news distortion and broadcast hoax policies. “Many journalists and broadcasters have been amplifying or airing these Polls without regard to basic journalistic ethics and without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis,” he wrote, warning that such reporting could run afoul of broadcasters’ “regulatory obligations.”
Gomez noted that violation of the news distortion policy requires “documented evidence of an intentional effort to mislead the public,” while the broadcast hoax rule applies to instances when a broadcaster knowingly airs false information about a crime or catastrophe.
“Absent that level of clear evidence, this commission has no authority to act,” Gomez wrote. “Reporting the results of a poll this administration happens to dislike does not come close to meeting those standards.”
Carr’s statement came after one pollster, Wedgewood Polls, admitted that it had fabricated results, but Donald Trump has for years deemed as “fake” surveys that are unfavorable to him.
The FCC chairman’s warning over “fake polls” brought condemnation from a group of FCC officials from both parties, including former chairs under Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, who said that it was “yet another truly outrageous attempt to censor and control the information available to Americans as they prepare to vote.”
Gomez also cited other FCC actions that have impacted broadcasters’ election coverage. The pointed to FCC’s new guidance on the Equal Time Rule, which warned stations that news interview shows may not be exempt. That put in doubt the ability of talk shows like The View to book candidates without facing obligations to offer time, if requested, to their rivals. The FCC launched an investigation of the show after it featured James Talarico.
Gomez also pointed to a staff-level decision that expanded who is eligible for discounted political advertising rates, from not just federal candidates but joint fundraising committees and coordinated party campaigns.
At the start of the Trump administration, the NAB saw the opportunity for the repeal of a number of broadcast regulations, including a rule that limited companies from amassing stations covering more than 39% of TV households. The FCC under Carr moved to repeal the cap last summer, although it is likely to face a court challenge.
Yet as Carr has launched investigations of networks and their stations over their news and other content, the NAB has been much less outspoken, generating criticism that they should be taking a more robust and vocal stance amid the threats. Gomez has been particularly outspoken, characterizing it as a “coordinated, government-wide effort to reshape the media into its sanctioned messenger, and the Federal Communications Commission has become one of its most active instruments.”
Gomez wrote in her letter to LeGeyt, “Despite the NAB staying largely quiet through the first year of this censorship and control campaign, I want to acknowledge that you have not stayed completely silent, and for that I am grateful.” She noted that NAB spoke out when the FCC ordered that ABC submit its station licenses for early renewal, a highly unusual regulatory move.
Gomez added that she does “not take for granted the position NAB itself occupies. But I would not be doing my job if I did not say plainly that the volume of that response has not yet matched the scale of what your members are facing. An industry confronting a coordinated effort to turn licensing authority into leverage over election year coverage needs more than a couple of tempered statements. Your members deserve to hear from their leading voice with the same clarity and urgency that their First Amendment rights, and their bottom line, call for.”
— Anna M. Gomez (@AGomezFCC) October 23, 2026News coverage of a poll that doesn’t favor a political party is not an invitation to meddle in an election through intimidation.
I'm urging the National Association of Broadcasters to stand up to this pressure and make sure every station knows what the law actually requires. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/2HmLzYPsjZ
A spokesperson for NAB said, “We appreciate Commissioner Gomez’s recognition of the value of local broadcasters and her commitment to the First Amendment principles that underpin a free press. We will continue working with her and all policymakers to protect broadcasters’ rights and strengthen local stations’ ability to deliver trusted news and information to the communities they serve.”
A spokesperson for the FCC did not immediately return a request for comment.