Walt Disney Co. has picked up a vocal ally in its fight against the Federal Communications Commission: one of the panel\u2019s three commissioners.<\/p>\n
FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez \u2014 the panel\u2019s lone Democrat \u2014 took a rare step of sending a letter<\/a> to Disney Chief Executive Officer Josh D\u2019Amaro Monday to describe what she sees as a pressure campaign to weaken not just Disney\u2019s ABC network \u2014 but all media outlets that provide critical coverage of President Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Disney and ABC are facing is not a series of coincidental regulatory actions but a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control, carried out through the weaponization of the FCC\u2019s authority as a federal regulator,\u201d Gomez wrote. <\/p>\n The FCC\u2019s efforts were all about \u201cpressuring a free and independent press and all media into submission,\u201d Gomez wrote in the four-page missive to D\u2019Amaro. <\/p>\n Her outreach comes after the FCC, in a highly unusual move, initiated an early review of the broadcast licenses<\/a> for ABC stations that Disney owns, including KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles. Disney owns eight stations and its licenses were not set to expire for another two to five years. Now, the company must defend its licenses by providing extensive documentation to demonstrate that its stations serve the public interest. <\/p>\n \u201cUsing the licenses of individual local stations as leverage against a parent company is an extraordinary and dangerous misapplication of this agency\u2019s authority,\u201d Gomez wrote.<\/p>\n