(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . FCC’s First Amendment Tour Arrives in Kentucky [1] ['Will Wright', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2025-06-25 The lone Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Anna Gomez, began her speech in rural Kentucky last week with a warning. “This administration has been on a campaign to censor and control since before day one, and since day one, the FCC has been implementing the will of this administration and undermining the First Amendment at every turn,” Gomez said. Watch the Video Below: Her stop in the small Appalachian town of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky, was the third on her recent tour about the First Amendment. At an event hosted by the Center for Rural Strategies, which publishes the Daily Yonder, Gomez led a panel of experts about the five First Amendment rights: speech, religion, press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government. Gomez warned that the FCC, under the Trump Administration, has threatened these rights. “Here’s what concerns me: the First Amendment has protected our fundamental right to speak freely and to hold power to account since 1791. It is foundational to our democracy,” she said. “And yet today, the greatest threat to our freedom is coming from our own government.” The FCC is a federal agency that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Gomez cited, among other examples, an FCC investigation into CBS News over claims of “news distortion” on the program “60 Minutes.” The Center for American Rights, a conservative law firm, filed a petition against 60 Minutes last year over an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. While the initial petition was dismissed, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr reopened it days after Trump returned to the White House. Last year, Trump sued CBS’ parent company, Paramount, claiming “60 Minutes” had improperly edited the interview with Harris in order to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party” in the 2024 election. Paramount has offered to settle the case, the news agency Reuters reported. Both the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and CBS’ news president and CEO, have resigned, citing concerns over editorial independence. For the FCC to pursue the investigation, Gomez said, was an example of the agency using its regulatory power to bully journalists and publishers who don’t toe the line of the Trump Administration. “The FCC is supposed to make decisions based on law, facts, and technical expertise, not politics,” she said. “We take our direction from the Constitution, from the law, and from the public. That is what Congress intended.” Gomez was joined by five other panelists: Preston Mitchell, a faith leader and Episcipol deacon; Tiffany Sturdivant, director of the media non-profit Appalshop; Tracy Staley, a journalist and marketing expert who works with the Center for Rural Strategies; businessman, author and former Kentucky state representative Bill Weinberg; and Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center Executive Director Wes Addington, whose non-profit law firm advocates for protections for coal miners. Each member spoke about their lived experiences with one of the five First Amendment rights. Staley, speaking about freedom of the press, noted that the group Reporters Without Borders now ranks the United States 57th out of 180 countries in press freedom. The First Amendment enshrines five rights: the freedoms of speech, religion, and press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for the redress of grievances. (Photo by Joel Cohen) The report notes the decline in number of local journalists and a growth in partisan media coverage that has eroded trust among the public. It also cites the politicization of the FCC and the administration’s “explicit threats to weaponize the federal government against the media.” “Even on a local level, what’s happening on the federal level is trickling down,” Staley said. “And that’s really, you know, high stakes for people who are in communities like the one we’re sitting in now.” Throughout her First Amendment tour, Gomez said she’s been critical of what she sees as abuses of regulatory power — and that she checks her email every day to see if she’s been fired. “If I’m removed from my seat at the commission, it wasn’t because I failed to do my job; it’s because I insisted on doing it as a commissioner,” she said. “It is my responsibility to respond to these attacks on the First Amendment. I refuse to stay quiet while the government chips away at fundamental rights by weaponizing our regulatory authority.” Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailyyonder.com/fccs-first-amendment-tour-arrives-in-kentucky/2025/06/25/ Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/