Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-05-05 Tuesday

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Democracy Now! Tuesday, May 5, 2026

From Toronto and Chicago, this is Democracy Now. President Trump's warned Iran will be blown off the face of the earth. If U.S. warships are targeted in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest attempt to address the energy crisis, the U.S. has launched Project Freedom, a military effort to, quote, unquote, guide commercial ships out of the Gulf despite the Iranian blockade. Will the strategy work and can the fragile ceasefire hold?

We'll speak with Rutgers Professor Toby Jones. Then to the Federal Communications Commission targeting of Disney, the parent company of ABC, after President Trump and the First Lady called for ABC to fire late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel again. We'll talk to the lone Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez. I think it's very important that all of us speak up, speak out, and push back. When we see that our government is interfering in our free speech, our freedom of assembly, and our free press, and that includes the corporate parents. As I mentioned before, capitulation breeds capitulation, but courage breeds courage. We'll also speak about the proposed mega-merger between Paramount and Time Warner Discovery, if approved CBS, CNN and HBO would all be owned by the one company.

And we look at a growing funding crisis impacting an often overlooked corner of public media, public access television. It's happening everywhere. Cord cutting. Outdated law. FCC threats. Federal grant cancellations. Doors are being closed. And over 1,500 local media stations across the news.

the nation are being punished. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. President Trump's warned Iran will be blown off the face of the earth if U.S. warships are targeted in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's renewed threat to destroy Iran came as the Pentagon rebranded its war from Operation Epic Fury to Project Freedom, turning its focus to reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic.

On Monday, Iranian state media said the U.S. had fired on small cargo boats carrying goods and passengers, killing five civilians. U.S. Central Command confirmed it had attacked several boats, but insisted they were threatening commercial vessels. Separately, United Arab Emirates said it had come under attack from drones and missiles that caused a fire at an oil facility. at the port of Fijira. The port is outside the Strait of Hormuz and is one of few export routes that doesn't require transiting through the strait. Three Indian nationals were injured in the attack. Iran claimed it was not responsible. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a man who scaled the Frederick Douglas Bridge to protest the war on Iran, remained on the bridge overnight and into a fifth

consecutive day. Gita Reichstadter, a veteran and father of two from Florida, said in a statement, quote, I'm calling on the people of the United States to bring an immediate end to the Trump regime's illegal war in Iran and the removal of the regime's power through mass, nonviolent, direct action, and non-cooperation, unquote. Iran executed three men on Sunday in connection with anti-government protests earlier this year. Medi Rezouye Rizu. Muhammad Rezimiri and Ibrahim Dela Thabadi were all hanged in Mashad. According to Iran, human rights monitor, Iran carried out 656 executions in the first three months this year.

Since March, during the U.S. Israeli War in Iran, there have been 24 political executions. Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Laureate Nargis Mohamedi has been hospitalized in critical condition after collapsing in Zanjan prison. She suffered a heart attack in March and has since experienced chest pain, severe headaches and double vision, but authorities continued to deny her transfer to specialist care in Tehran. Mohamede has been arrested 13 times and sentenced to a cumulative 31 years in prison. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for her advocacy against torture and the death penalty. in Iran. In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in separate attacks Monday. Earlier today, an Israeli drone attack killed a Palestinian in Gaza city, leaving several others badly injured. On Sunday, an Israeli military broadcaster reported its forces had expanded control of the Gaza Strip to nearly 60 percent of the territory,

and were prepared to resume a full-scale assault, if ordered. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed a 26-year-old Palestinian man Monday as they raided a busy commercial area of Nablus. Nayyaf Samarablus died after he was shot in the head. He'd reportedly just dropped his wife at a nearby hospital to give birth to their first child. At least four others, including two children, were struck and wounded by live ammunition. The U.S. military says it launched a night. strike on a vessel in the Caribbean killing two people Monday. The Trump administration once again

claimed the vessel was carrying drugs without providing any evidence. Since September, the Pentagon says it's killed at least 188 people and strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The attacks have been widely condemned as illegal. Ukraine's Interior Minister says Russian attacks on Monday killed 14 people and wounded at least 60 others across multiple regions of Ukraine with reports of heavy shelling and damage to residential areas. Russia's latest assault came as President Vladimir Putin said he would declare a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday as Russia marks Victory Day, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Meanwhile, Russia faces a growing environmental disaster along its Black Sea Coast after Ukraine struck the oil refining port of Tuap's for the fourth time in less than three weeks. The attacks created large oil spills, huge clouds of acrid smoke, and toxic black rain that fell on residents and contaminated more than 30 miles of coastline. In New Orleans, a federal appeals court block, criminal court clerk Calvin Duncan, from taking office Monday, which was scheduled to be his first day on the job. Duncan won election to the post in November. Just five years after his release from prison after serving 28 years for a murder, he did not commit. He was exonerated in 2021 and earned his law degree a year later at age 60. His position was eliminated last Friday when the Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation abolishing it. Governor Landry also came.

canceled upcoming primary elections following Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the last remaining major provision of the Voting Rights Act. On Monday, protesters marched through the streets of New Orleans demanding an end to racist gerrymandering of Louisiana's congressional maps and the reinstatement of Calvin Duncan to his elected position. You know, Calvin Duncan won a race with 68% of the vote. You know, so that's the citizens of New Orleans. I think that should be honored and respected. And the fact that it's not, I think anybody who have a sense of right and wrong should stand up against that because that's a direct strike against democracy. And if we don't stand against instance, then, you know, America is just dissolving for as I'm concerned.

Alabama's state legislature adjourned a special session Monday after demonstrators entered the state house in Montgomery to protest Republican plans to adopt a gerrymandered map that dilutes the power of black voters. Currently, an injunction bars Alabama from redrawing its congressional maps before 2030. But following the Supreme Court's ruling last week, gutting the Voting Rights Act, Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall, filed an emergency motion asking a court to lift the prohibition. This is Dee Reid, an organizer with Black Lives Matter. It is a strategic attempt to erase the voting rights. Act, which we know is our strongest protection against disenfranchisement.

A new investigation by the Washington Post looks at the increasing use of force by guards against immigrants detained in ICE jails nationwide. The Post found nearly 800 cases in which ICE guards use physical violence or deployed chemical agents on jailed immigrants during Trump's first year back in office, a 37 percent increase. compared to the previous year. The skyrocketing use of force comes as the Trump administration packs, ice, jails, beyond their capacity as part of his mass deportation campaign. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has shuttered its internal watchdog offices

that track the abuse of immigrants in custody. The U.S. Supreme Court Monday stepped in to block a lower court ruling that would have cut off access to the abortion pill of Pryston for millions of people nationwide. The order was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, who put a one-week-hold on major changes to how the pill can be prescribed, temporarily restoring nationwide telehealth

and mail access through May 11th. The temporary pause gives the Supreme Court time to consider next steps in the case as it weighs emergency requests filed by the manufacturers of Mepha Prostone. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu Nationalist Party, BJP, is tightening its political grip after winning a key legislative election in one of India's most populous states, West Bengal. The victory brought an end to 15 years of rule by Mamata Banerjee, who is one of Modi's most outspoken opponents. In the run-up to the

election, an estimated 9 million people were stripped of their right to vote, removed from the voter registration in a move that disproportionately targeted Muslims in West Bengal. The 2026, Pulitzer Prize winners were announced on Monday. Palestinian photographer, Sahara, and New York Times contributor won the prize for breaking news photography for his work documenting Israel's war on siege on Gaza. Am Gessen of the New York Times won the Pulitzer Prize for opinion writing. Meanwhile, a special citation was awarded to Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie Brown for her groundbreaking reporting in 2017 and 18 that exposed Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network. In Wisconsin, animal rights advocates reached a deal with Ridgeland Farms to secure the

release of 1,500 beagles bred for medical experimentation. Their victory came after hundreds of activists attempted to enter a property owned by Ridgeline Farms, where beagles are held in brutal conditions subjected to surgeries without anesthesia and other abuses. The protest earlier this month led to the arrest of at least 25 people with police injuring scores of activists at the action. And in New York, this year's Met Galla at the Metropolitan Museum of Art faced protests on Monday. The event was sponsored by Amazon's billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos ahead of the gala. The activism group, Everyone Hates Elon, projected video interviews with Amazon workers onto the Bezos.

as Manhattan Penthouse, alongside slogans including, if you can buy the Met Gala, you can pay more taxes, and no red carpet for Trump's billionaires. On Friday, the group placed hundreds of bottles of fake urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, referring to complaints by Amazon workers of having to skip bathroom breaks and urinate in bottles. The group also plastered ads across the city, reading, quote, the Bezos Met Gala brought to you by the company that powers ICE, a reference to Amazon's cloud computing contract with ICE. Amazon's labor union founder, Chris Smalls, was arrested outside the Met Gala after allegedly jumping a barricade. Meanwhile, labor union staged a ball without billionaires in Manhattan's meatpacking district as an alternative fashion show to the Met Gala.

Amazon Whole Foods, Washington Post, Starbucks, and Uber workers walk the runway in looks by immigrant designers. This is SEIU President April Barrett. They can try to take our rights. They can try to redraw the lines. They can try to control the systems, but they will never, ever be able to replicate the brilliance, the creativity, the resilience of the people they are trying to hold down. So this ball without billionaires is not. just about fashion. It is about power. It's about telling the truth that people who sow and care and drive and cook and clean and secure and those that create are the ones who make everything

possible. Labor is art. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. DemocracyNow. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in Toronto, speaking at Radio Day is North America. Juan Gonzalez is in Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. President Trump's warned that Iran will be blown off the face of the earth if U.S. warships are targeted in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's renewed threat to destroy Iran came as the Pentagon rebranded its war from Operation Epic Fury to Project Freedom, turning its focus to reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic amidst the widening energy crisis. On Monday, Iranian state media said the U.S. had fired on

small cargo boats carrying goods and passengers, killing five civilians. U.S. Central Command confirmed it attacked several boats, but insisted they were threatening commercial vessels. Separately, the United Arab Emirates said it had come under attack from drones and missiles that caused a fire at an oil facility at the port of Fujaira. The port is outside the Strait of Hormuz and is one of few export routes that doesn't require transiting through the strait. Three Indian nationals were injured in the attack. Iran claimed it was not responsible. The Iranian foreign minister in a social media post warned the U.S. against being dragged back into a quagmire and dismissed Project Freedom as, quote, Project Deadlock. To assess all this in

Moore, we're joined by Toby Jones, Associate Professor of Middle East History at Rutgers University, writes frequently on oil war in the Middle East, and as author of Desert Kingdom, How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia, also wrote Running Dry, essays on Energy, Water, and Environmental Crisis. We welcome you, Professor Jones, to Democracy Now. If you can talk about, well, what some are calling this project stalemate with President Trump once again threatening to blow up Iran and overall your assessment of what's happening right now. Well, we're seeing two things. First of all, thank you for having me back on. We're seeing two things in the region. One is an intensification or an escalation of the saber rattling that's become characteristic of Trump's disposition and sort of approach to. tensions in the Gulf, a crisis that he created, along with Israel and evading and launching an attack on Iran in February. He can't control the narrative, and so he escalates. He also can't control

what's happening on the waters of the Gulf. It's become clear the limits of American naval power, its military capacity to dictate terms in the Gulf are significantly constrained. Iran with, through sort of asymmetric tactics, a minimalist approach to this. sort of its own response to threats in the region has basically handcuffed the United States' ability to dictate terms. What now sort of circulates over the Gulf is an environment of uncertainty and fear. Nobody trusts that the United States can stop Iran from carrying out attacks if they wish to on commercial shipping. Nobody trusts that Iran won't, in fact, carry out attacks on cargo or other merchant shipping. And so the region is in the grip of paralysis, limited American.

American imperial power, an aggressive or at least a marginally capable Iranian military force has revealed both the limits of American capacity and has frozen the region in crisis. I will say one other thing, though, before we sort of carry on the conversation. We should be wary about any claims about what's happening in the Gulf and what's not happening in the Gulf, particularly at the Strait. We know that ships aren't moving in a much diminished capacity. neither oil or other merchant shipping seems to be moving according to our normal registers of observation, the normal tools that we use to look. But there is some transit happening.

The thing that's important to keep in mind as we go forward and trying to make sense of all of this is how little we actually know. There is an information blackout. Data is largely unavailable. This is true within the states and the region. And it's largely true on the waters of the Gulf itself. There's still so much that we don't know about what's actually happening. that to some extent, to a large extent, we're beholden to the extreme rhetoric coming from all sides. And Professor Jones, I wanted to ask you, in less than 10 days on May 14th, Trump will be traveling to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping.

Trump already postponed this trip once because of the war. How do you think his failure to negotiate an end to the conflict will affect those talks in Beijing? Well, it's hard to know what Trump's sort of calculation of all of this is or where he sees China fitting in. I think that that's largely believed that both China and Russia, you know, ostensibly two rivals to American global hegemony are supporting Iran either through financial means or through oil consumption or through other forms of material and financial support. It's unclear whether Trump will challenge China's role in the region. once again, you know, what's important to take away here, or part of what's important to take away here,

is that through an unprovoked assault on Iran, Trump has accelerated or at least clarified the real limits of American imperial power. He has hastened Americans' hegemonic decline, at least in the Gulf. And as you've asked one, I think this spirals out and how Trump and the Americans see the Gulf as a centerpiece of its global power. whether China is actively engaged in supporting or propping up Iran or whether it's quietly engaged, the reality is Iran has that China has emerged as a significant rival to the United States in the region. That's not necessarily a new thing, but it's more clear than ever. And whether Trump is in a capacity to either address that or do anything about it is not only unclear, it seems unlikely to me. Trump has put the United States, I'm not one to celebrate American Empire, but

he's definitely put the United States in a much more vulnerable and weakened position globally as a result of this war. And you mentioned this historic trend of the United States, its alignment with Gulf countries and the Middle East as key to U.S. strategy of domination around the world. How has this war, regardless of how it ends, affected that? Well, think of the United States as having engaged in a 50-year project to secure its primacy in the Gulf. It's success. the British Empire in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It engaged in the Iran-Iraq war in the middle of the 1980s, which was the first time that it projected its naval military power in the region in an attempt to escort Kuwaiti and other Arab oil shipping in and out of the Strait of Hormuz.

And ever since then, we should understand Desert Storm, the sanctions era of the 1990s, the 2003 invasion of Iraq is partly a response to American attempts to secure its primacy in the region. And it's done so not only projecting its power, but also by maintaining relationships with awful authoritarian regimes in the region, the Saudis, the Emirates, the Kuwaitis, the Bahrainis, and others. What this war has done is it's called into question the efficacy of that system and that arrangement. And it has created the material conditions in the region where Iran, again, through asymmetric and minimalistic measures, has been able to undermine the primacy, both in real terms, and in symbolic ways of American power. I think to put it simply, if the United States has been engaged in a 50-year project, a 50-year imperial project to protect its interests in the region and its allies in the region,

which all circulate around oil, this war has rapidly undone the conditions that made that possible in the first place. If you can talk about the particular Gulf countries and their relationship with the United States right now and is. it shifting? You wrote the book Desert Kingdom, How Oil and Water Forge, Modern Saudi Arabia. If you could talk about Saudi Arabia, I mean, you have Jared Kushner, the Trump's son-in-law, and Steve Whitkoff, two developers who are the so-called peace envoys. Jared Kushner got, what, something like $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign fund, very close to MBS, the crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman.

And then you have the United Arab Emirates that just pulled out of OPEC. and says today that it was hit by a drone, though Iran says this was not their drone and is now suffering from yet another fire. Yeah, these are steadfast allies of the United States. What's interesting over the last two and a half decades is that that also means they're steadfast allies of Israel. So we should understand the Israelis, the Saudis, the Emirates, and the Americans in particular as being in full alignment on their approach to the regional dynamic.

That largely means they're in lockstep and confronting and in narrating a particular framework of thinking about Iran as their principal rival in the region. This is one of the products of the 2003 invasion in the Iraq War. That doesn't mean that there isn't rivalry within the region or that there aren't challenges to how stable this arrangement is. Saudi Arabia, for example, was on the precipice of normalization with Israel prior to Israel's genocide in Gaza. which compelled a recalculation on their part. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while both aligning with Israel and the United States, have their own regional rivalry that's taking shape.

As you mentioned, the UAE recently withdrew, or as of this month, has withdrawn from OPEC. That's largely a reflection of an internal power struggle between Saudi Arabia and UAE over control of global energy markets and also a reflection of the kind of shifting economic capacities in both countries. their rivals in South Yemen, their rivals in Sudan, where they compete various competing factions militarily and politically. So we see a regional order that's more or less in alignment where Iran stands as the principal problem, but we see fissures within that regional order.

What that means for American sort of rent seekers like Jared Kushner and those close to the Trump administration is that in some ways that relationship is transactional. How do the Saudis fund or support Kushner and his hedge funds or his real estate projects? How might they benefit economically in the region is a central concern of some players within the Trump and the Saudi regimes? But beyond that, there are also these political economic and imperial alignments that act in sort of parallel with those. Sometimes they're in support of one another and other times their intention of one another. But I think that it doesn't, what's not called into question is the depth of the relationship between those places. And I'll say this one thing that we're not paying close enough attention.

Oh, sorry. No, Professor, I just want to ask you, well, we have about a minute or so. But if you could briefly talk about, you've written extensively on environmental crisis in the region. How has a war exacerbated the environmental crisis? Well, again, there's a lot of information that we don't know about the region. We've seen some evidence from satellite imagery of oil spills in the galt as a result of various attacks at various points earlier in the war. I think one thing we need to do and keep in mind constantly, although we've been talking about Iran in the Gulf today, is that this is very much a multi-front war that includes Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank.

This is a war on Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. And here we see that the Israeli tactical approach to its territorial maximalism and American and in support of American Empire is a tactics of ruin to destroy landscapes, to destroy communities, to evoke and commit environmental atrocity in order to make the region uninhabitable or at least precarious for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. We saw this with strikes on oil facilities in Tehran in the early stages. of the war on other infrastructure facilities, Trump's constant bombast threatening infrastructural and sort of targeting the conditions that preserve life, both environmentally and otherwise, or a core precept of the American-Israeli war. We will only reckon with this in the months and years that follow, however this concludes. Well, we want to thank you for being with us of Professor Toby Jones, of Middle East History professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick,

and we'll be back after a brief break. The Italian musician Chira Arby, Nightingale of the North, performing in Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman broadcasting today from Toronto, Canada, Juan Gonzalez is in Chicago. As President Trump continues to attack media organizations in journalism, We turn now to look at the Federal Communications Commission, targeting of Disney, the parent company of ABC. Last week, FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered a review of eight local ABC TV licenses. They were not scheduled to be up for renewal until 2028, but Carr ordered an early review which could lead to ABC being stripped of the licenses.

Carr made the announcement one day after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump publicly demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel once again. This time over a joke he made about them. Carr's denied there was a connection citing a separate FCC investigation into Disney's DEI, that's diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Carr was questioned by reporters last week. any connection? Did you feel any pressure? Was the timing at all, you know, as a result of White House pressure or what happened on Saturday night? No, this was a decision that we made inside this building based on where we were in the enforcement matter. There was no pressure from the outside. There was no suggestion from the outside. There was no call

for agency action from the outside. This was based on our assessment of where we were. With respect to President Trump, obviously, he has every right, First Amendment right, to express his position on this. One of the great things about President Trump is he's very transparent. He has told publicly his position. He has every right to make the decisions that he's made, to make the public calls that he's made. Same with the First Lady. There's a lot of people out there that agree with them.

And then, will the Jimmy Kimmel will that all, or any speech issues be part of this review? Is it solely restricted to DEI, the early license reviews? Our DEI review is going to continue and it's going to be part of that. We are calling their licenses in for early renewal.

I think they have eight station licenses. Once they make that filing, then anybody can file petitions to deny. We can't control what claims they make and their petitions to deny, and we'll take a look at all of that. Last September, ABC briefly suspended Jimmy Kimmel's show after Brendan Carr threatened to take action over remarks Kimmel made following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible. I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. The FCC currently has just three commissioners, the sole Democrat on the FCC, Anna Gomez, spoke at a hearing last week, can criticize Carr's latest move targeting ABC. Calling an early renewal of a broadcast license is a rare step. It happens only as a last resort and after evidence of clear abuse of the trust surrounding that license or a blatant violation of our rules.

It has not happened in decades. And the targeting of a group of stations to punish a parent company has never happened in history. The irony is not lost on any. A joke made about an event meant to honor the First Amendment is now being used as a justification to curtail it. That was FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez speaking last week. She joins us now from Washington, D.C. To talk about the ABC probe, the proposed mega merger between Paramount and Time Warner Discovery, if approved, it would mean CNN, CBS, HBO, and more would all be under one roof and more. Commissioner Gomez, thanks so much for being with us. Start off by talking about what's at stake with the FCC chair cars threat to pull the licenses from ABC stations over Jimmy Kimmel once again.

Yes, good morning. It's good to be with you today. What the FCC has done is the most offensive assault on the First Amendment so far by this FCC. It is going after, in an unprecedented fashion, a network program by threatening the licenses of the local broadcasters of that network. It's bound to fail if, in fact, Disney pushes back. And I'm glad to see that, in fact, they are. Because if this actually gets reviewed by court, it will be a long-needed rebuke of the abuses of this FCC and this administration. of the First Amendment. And, Commissioner, that currently stations have 10 years once they're granted a license before it has to be renewed.

This was actually extended by many years in previous Republican administrations after citizen groups began to challenge the licenses of many stations around the country in the 60s and the 70s. How unusual is it this idea of even before the period of the licenses of? up for renewal that the government steps in? It's extremely unusual. The last time that the agency advanced the period for a renewal of a license was over a half a century ago.

And most certainly has never been done where eight of the entirely eight local broadcast stations owned by the network are brought up for renewal. And to be clear, the earliest renewal that was due, was in 2028. The latest was in 2031. And these are actually eight-year licenses. So this is extremely unprecedented. And it just shows you what a pretext it is for going after Disney, because Disney has so far refused to bend the knee to this administration's demands that it fire a comedian and that it change its content so that this administration isn't upset by whatever coverage it's getting by this network. It's also meant, by the way, as a threat to other broadcasters,

basically putting them on notice that if they upset this administration, they too will be dragged before the FCC in an early renewal process. Could you tell us whether you've had conversations with the chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, about this, to what degree you feel he is basically doing whatever President Trump wants? Well, this administration, is using any point of leverage that it has to go after its critics, whether it's the FCC, whether it's the FTC, whether it's the Department of Justice, whether it's the Department of Defense, it is trying everything it can to ensure that it gets coverage that it likes. And I have been very vocal in my criticism of this.

And frankly, in alerting everyone, the public, the corporations, the broadcasts, reporters, that this is a serious issue for our democracy. I think it's important to note that Trump's FCC pick, Brendan Carr, the chair of the FCC, wrote Project 2025's chapter on the FCC. And I want to go from what we're talking about with ABC and Kimmel and ABC being threatened with losing stations, losing their license, to mega mergers. More than a hundred of Hollywood's most prominent writers, directors, and actors, and thousands of people overall related to Hollywood producers, directors, actors, signed an open letter

voicing their opposition to the proposed merger of Paramount, that was Paramount Skydance, and Warner Brothers Discovery. The letter reads in part, quote, the integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised. Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. So is thoughtful regulation and enforcement, unquote. Paramount Skydance announced its intended $11 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery early this year after Netflix dropped its bid after meeting at the White House. Paramount's offer still requires regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe. If completed, it would create the largest media conglomerate in U.S. history,

spanning news, sports, movies, video games, theme parks, and more, all controlled by Paramount Chair David Ellison, a vocal supporter of President Trump as is his father, the billionaire Larry Ellison. So if Paramount Warner Brothers Discovery were about it, approved, it would put CBS, owned by Paramount, together with HBO, CNN, and other what they call media properties. Can you talk about the significance of this, the mass opposition to this, Commissioner Gomez? Sure. One thing that's important to note is that the FCC actually does not have a part in approving the actual merger itself, but it does have a,

role in approving the, or not approving, in reviewing the foreign ownership that is implicated by this transaction. And I'll get to that in a minute. Traditionally, what the FCC worries about when it comes to media and its regulations are three things, competition, localism, in other words, serving your local communities, and viewpoint diversity. And those principles are very important because we want to make sure that every, viewer, every listener has the ability to see themselves in whatever choice they make in their broadcasts. And what we, the harm that we have, when we have these mega consolidations, say of local broadcasters like we just saw with the next our tech nut transaction, which by the way

is under court review right now, is that you lose that viewpoint diversity because all of a sudden every station that you're looking at has the same content because it's owned by the same corporate parent. And that is, in fact, harmful for localism, for civic engagement, even for getting information about high school sports. And, you know, we lose that benefit. We also don't want to reach a point where we just become a nation that gets content dictated to it by this administration. When Paramount was bought by Skydance, in fact, the commission did approve that. And one of the things that this commission imposed on that transaction was a requirement that they have a truth arbiter or an ombuds person that would field complaints about bias in the content of the network. That is dangerous because we don't want to have a viewing public that is only seeing what this administration.

wants them to see. Now, with regard to the foreign ownership of the in the Paramount Warner Brothers transaction, I'm concerned that this FCC ensured that it actually carefully reviews what is being asked for here. Paramount has asked for the commission to approve up to 100% indirect foreign ownership in this transaction. Now, the foreign ownership we're talking about here, is sovereign wealth funds by foreign countries and 10% by a Chinese company that is essentially controlled by China. I think there is a real issue here that we need to be concerned about if what this results in is a chilling effect and what content that viewers see because of any fear of upsetting

these foreign governments in whatever content is being shown. And we've seen that already happen in, for example, the nixing of documentaries about reporters that have been murdered, the Khashoggi murder. So this is a serious issue for the FCC, and we need to really seriously consider it. And Commissioner Gorz, I'd like you to briefly comment on another major merger between NextStar Media Group and Tegna, two of the largest local broadcast station owners in the U.S. The Trump administration approved the merger after your FCC waived rules limiting any company from owning stations that together reach more than 39% of U.S. households. Could you talk about that merger and the fact that Next Star Media Group is its owners are known

as very conservative folks who have aligned themselves with the Trump administration in the past? Yes. So much like the foreign ownership, by the way, there's a statutory cap in how much a single owner can own in terms of local broadcasts, broadcasters. That ownership cap is 39% of viewing households in this country. The next our Tegna merger will lead to a transaction that will reach. 80% of viewing households of this country. And this goes back to my point about viewpoint diversity. What we have seen in the past, we've seen mergers in the past of local broadcasters. And what that leads to is a reduction of the journalism and of the local content. Because what these transactions are seeking are synergies.

Synergies are just another word for layoffs. And so what will happen is you will get the same. same content shown at all of these broadcasters in these individual markets, and you will no longer have a diversity of viewpoints being shown. And as you know, this Next Star has been very sympathetic to this administration, probably for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that they want these transactions to be approved. But that's a problem, because we don't want to have our media content fed to us by one person. And very significant in this, Commissioner Gomez, is that three Republican attorneys

general, including Chris Kobach of Kansas, have joined with eight Democratic attorney generals in filing suit over this or challenging this legally. Yeah. And important, that's the other thing I did. mention is one of the issues with having so much power concentrated in one corporation is that it will actually lead to increased cable rates and streaming rates for the viewers themselves, because it changes the balance of negotiating power. And that is a large reason why these attorney generals, both on Republicans and Democrats are challenging the transaction. And one of the things that we saw, by the way,

which I found very disturbing about this transaction, is that despite the magnitude of this transaction and despite the fact that it was unlawful for the FCC to actually approve it, it was not voted on by the commission. And that is done for a couple of reasons. One, it's less complicated if I cannot speak out publicly about something that's being done as a backdoor deal. And it was rushed through in order to avoid this very judicial review. All of the approvals, the DOJ approval, the FCC approval happened very quickly in one day and the transaction closed in 10 minutes after the FCC approved it. clearly this was coordinated so that this billionaire buddy bypass that this administration seems to have

for the corporations it supports could get this done and hopefully avoid this judicial review. Apparently it didn't work. Well, Anna Gomez, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Federal Communications Commissioner, the only Democrat of the three that are left. The chair is Trump pick, Brendan Carr. Next up, we look at a funding crisis facing community media. It's public access TV, often overlooked when talking about public media in the United States. We'll talk to the heads of Access, Sacramento and California, and BronxNet, the poorest county in New York State, the Bronx,

and how they serve their communities. What's at stake? Stay with us. I'm Honduran Honduran Honduran Honduran

Musician Karla Lara performing in our Democracy Now Studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.

org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We end today's show looking at a growing funding crisis. in an often overlooked corner of public media, public access TV. It airs on cable.

As more people cut the cord and drop their cable TV subscriptions, public access channels are losing a vital source of revenue. For decades, cable TV companies have paid franchise fees to local municipalities as compensation for use of the public right of way, through which the companies route cables and utilities. Those fees have funded peg stations, PEG. That stands for public educational and governmental access. This is part of a video made by BronxNet in New York.

It's happening everywhere. Cord cutting. Outdated law. FCC threats. Federal grant cancellations, doors are being closed, and over 1,500 local media stations across the nation are being punished. Public access stations are distinct from the PBS and NPR stations that are also in a funding crisis due to the defunding and dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We're joined now by the heads of two public access stations, Joe Barr, is Executive Director of Access Sacroup. in California's capital. And Michael Max Navi is executive director of BronxNet in New York.

Michael, let's begin with you. Talk about what's at stake. And for people who aren't familiar with what public access is, explain this sector of public media in the United States. Congratulations, Amy, on 30 years of democracy now. And BronxNet public media and public access networks across the nation broadcast this program proudly. And we are participatory media. As we commemorate 250 years of American democracy and what the First Amendment means and freedom of expression, know that you have community resources very often near cities and towns that provide media education, workforce training for the public, experiential learning for students that's career building,

but also promote civic awareness, voter literacy, digital literacy, and local information. It's a spotlight on the arts and culture and more. And BronxNet was formed 30-plus years ago, in part because the Bronx was too often misrepresented and sensationalized in mainstream media. If it bleeds, it leads. Hollywood also contributed to the Bronx being a symbol of urban blight for many decades, and that's why BronxNet exists to correct those misrepresentations with authentic community voices. And that's, in part, why now the Bronx is a symbol of urban renewal.

And I'd like to ask Joe Barr, Executive Director of Access Sacramento, could you talk about the programming and the work of community media and Sacramento over the last few decades? And how did you find out that your funding might be cut? Yeah. Well, Access Sacramento does a lot of what BronxNet does. It really is of the community, by the community, for the community. We're doing workforce training.

We're contributing to the creative economy of this region. The arts is a huge sector of Sacramento's economy. Movie production is actually a growing part of Sacramento's economy. As Hollywood Studios leave Southern California, they're looking for other places that are cheaper to shoot their films, and we have people who can crew those films. So we are really here to give those opportunities to folks, but then also give them platforms for a voice.

And your previous segment was a wonderful contrast to what we're trying to do in community media, which is really be authentically local to share viewpoints that aren't necessarily heard in mainstream media. And for us to be facing these funding situations, when you added on to what we heard in the previous segment with commercial media mergers, it really could be a dire situation for getting a broad spectrum. term of viewpoints. We heard about our funding. Yes. If you can explain that point of your funding, when we were in Sacramento in the last few weeks, we heard that Access Sacramento might fall off a cliff that the Cable Commission is cutting your funding. Can you explain what you've been told? Yes. So the Cable Commission has been telling us for about the last nine months, they've done,

run some numbers, and they say that the cable, the peg money, the money that they give us for operating organizations is going to go away in a year, a little bit more than a year, and they are actively moving to shut the community media stations down, the public and educational organizations, and put all that money into the government channel. So this is really a situation where they unilaterally are making this decision. It's a policy decision that's going to affect a lot of people, the community at large, and they're essentially cutting down or shutting down the community organizations in favor of the government channel. That's where they want to put their money. And Michael, I wanted to ask you, we're approaching the 26 midterm elections. Can you talk about

how organizations like BronxNet, the important role that they play in local debates and candidate interviews that may be major commercial stations or even internet blogs or podcasts don't cover. Thank you, Juan. We're in an era of media consolidation as Commissioner Gomez so well stated. And community media networks like BronxNet met with her in D.C. a couple of weeks ago, and to raise awareness about harmful legislation called HR 2289, as well as a positive legislation called a Protecting Community TV Act, and we met with congressional representatives. And very often for local races in our given communities,

including in the Bronx, the only televised local debates for these competitive races are televised on community media, because in an era of media consolidation, toxic algorithms, addicted feeds, we are not seeing the commercial networks paying attention to the local news and information. As a matter of fact, local reporting jobs, local reporters have decreased 75% since 2002. And according to rebuild local news, that is...

And Michael, we just have a minute, and I wanted to quickly ask you what the bill and the New York State Legislature is and about the proposal as people cut the cord, you know, and their cable subscriptions to tax Netflix and Hulu. We have about 30 seconds. We partner with League of Women Voters of New York to produce these debates, and they're important. And with cable, there's arguably a community good. There's local investment. As there's migration to digital entertainment and to streaming, there is no local investment. There's no local jobs.

There's no local programming. And we have a bill called the Technology, Education, and Arts through Media Act, which correct. wrecks that. It provides revenue for municipalities, which addresses what Joe was talking about in Sacramento, revenue for the state, revenue for digital literacy, local arts, community media, nonprofit news, and more. So that's why we are, right after this interview, I'm heading up to Albany to talk with our state leaders about teen New York and build broad consensus. We are very much poised to have model legislation in New York State, which really helps create and foster a healthy news and information ecosystem at the local level in this, like, really

challenging time where there's crisis and community media centers closing across the nation, and there's a loss of local jobs. This bill creates local jobs and local information and promotes civic engagement and awareness. Michael Max Navi, I want to thank you for being with us, Executive Director of BronxNet, and Joe Barr, Executive Director of Access Sacramento, where the next Cable Commission meeting is just in a few weeks in June. I'm in Toronto today, speaking at Radio Days North America. Moving on to screenings of the new documentary about democracy now.

Steal this story, please. On Thursday night and Friday morning in Minneapolis, then in Chicago on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and on Saturday evening when I'll be joined by Juan Gonzalez. And then on to Milwaukee on Sunday. You can check our website at DemocracyNow.org. Information for all these screenings and for more as we travel the country can also be found at steal this story. Democracy Now is produced with Mike Berkina, Guster Messiah, Rhodes, Namin, Sheiket Maria Tarasana, Nicole Salas, Sarah Nassar, Trinan, Dura Samoff,

Khamra, Fah, Mari, Msu, Diego, Ramos, our executive director, Julie Presby, special thanks to Becca Staley and to Dennis Moynihanhan. I'm Amy Goodman in Toronto with Juan Gonzalez in Chicago.