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  "description": "Citing the FCC’s obligations to maintain public interest in broadcasting, Trusty struck a tone similar to Chairman Brendan Carr.\n",
  "path": "/trusty-warns-fcc-must-walk-carefully-on-broadcast-regulation/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-10-31T20:25:57.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "a speech",
    "_to reopen_",
    "_an Oct. 8_",
    "_has voiced_",
    "_drawn concern_",
    "_was expected_"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2025 – Federal Communications Commissioner **Olivia Trusty** used a speech before the Media Institute on Wednesday to deliver a strong defense of First Amendment principles, even as she affirmed that federal law still grants the FCC authority to regulate broadcast content.\n\n“Broadcasting is treated differently than most Americans might expect,” Trusty said. “Yes, the First Amendment still applies… But in broadcasting, content-based regulation that would be unthinkable in other contexts is indeed permitted under longstanding doctrine.”\n\nTrusty’s comments come as free speech advocates warn that the FCC’s powers over broadcast licenses could be misused to punish speech critical of government officials.\n\nShe likened broadcast regulation to walking on a “frozen lake,” where the boundary between legitimate oversight and unconstitutional interference is uncertain.\n\n“Walking this frozen lake requires careful judgment,” she said. “At what point are you still on solid ground, enforcing clear statutory requirements? At what point do the cracks appear?” she asked.\n\n### Red Lion _still good law, Trusty said_\n\nTrusty said the FCC must continue to uphold _Red Lion v. FCC_ , the 1969 Supreme Court decision that sustained the Fairness Doctrine, requiring broadcasters to present opposing views on controversial issues. The Court acknowledged that the rule could chill speech but upheld it on the theory that broadcast spectrum was scarce.\n\n“In _Red Lion_ , the Supreme Court upheld regulations designed to expand the viewpoints available to the public,” Trusty said. “Many have predicted the Supreme Court would eventually erase this distinction. But that day has not yet come. Until it does, the Commission has an obligation to apply the law as its stands”\n\nTrusty struck a tone similar to that of FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** in citing the FCC’s obligations to maintain public interest in broadcasting.\n\nIn recent months, Carr has invoked the public interest standard _to reopen_ news distortion complaints against ABC, CBS, and NBC, threatened radio stations’ licenses for broadcasting the location of ICE agents, and publicly rebuked networks over _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ segments commenting on the assassination of conservative activist **Charlie Kirk** – prompting several stations to temporarily drop the program.\n\n### _Public interest mandate to pressure or penalize broadcasters?_\n\nThose interventions have prompted concern from legal experts who say Carr’s use of the public interest mandate to pressure or penalize broadcasters over editorial decisions was edging toward coercion.\n\n“We’ve been hearing a lot about the public interest standard lately,” said First Amendment attorney **Bob Corn-Revere** at _an Oct. 8_ American Enterprise Institute panel. “It’s something that Chairman Carr regularly brings up, as if that gives him authority to micromanage content on particular stations and particular shows. It doesn’t.”\n\nDemocratic Commissioner **Anna Gomez** _has voiced_ similar concerns, condemning what she called the FCC’s “harassment” of broadcasters under Carr’s direction. Gomez said there was “no basis” for the FCC to reopen news distortion probes against ABC, CBS, and NBC.\n\nCarr’s actions toward broadcasters has also _drawn concern_ from several lawmakers, and Carr _was expected_ to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on the matter in the coming weeks.\n\nIn her speech Wednesday, Trusty said that the best outcome for the First Amendment would be when “the marketplace, through the choices of individual licensees, advances the public interest.”\n",
  "title": "Trusty Warns FCC Must ‘Walk Carefully’ on Broadcast Regulation",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:43:41.674Z"
}