Walking on a frozen lake is how FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty describes broadcast speech regulation. As concerns mount over recent threats to broadcast licenses, she’s calling for marketplace-driven public interest over heavy-handed oversight.
Trusty used her keynote address at the Media Institute’s Free Speech America Gala to outline how the agency can balance First Amendment protections with its oversight of modern communications, and why innovation is key to both free expression and public service.
Speaking at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, Trusty addressed the longstanding tension between constitutional speech rights and the Communications Act, arguing that broadcasters occupy a unique regulatory space.
Using her own metaphor, Trusty compared the First Amendment’s clarity to a cliff with visible boundaries, while the laws governing broadcast speech, she said, are more like walking across a frozen lake.
“For speech in broadcasting, there isn’t a cliff,” she said. “At first, as you step on it, the surface feels solid. But as you continue to move forward, the ice groans underfoot. Cracks spread. You can’t always see how thick the ice is beneath your feet, or whether it will hold if you take that next step.”
Trusty emphasized that while the First Amendment applies to broadcasters, the FCC is also bound by the Communications Act’s public interest requirements that restrict obscenity, indecency, and profanity, require equal political access, and prohibit deliberate news distortion. She said these provisions reflect decades of precedent, including the Supreme Court’s Red Lion decision upholding the FCC’s authority to promote viewpoint diversity.
As the media ecosystem evolves, Trusty argued, the FCC must create an environment where the marketplace itself advances the public interest, rather than relying on excessive regulation. “Most broadcasters take their public interest obligations seriously. Our role should be to foster an environment that empowers them to do so voluntarily,” she said.
Her speech comes as NPR argues in federal court that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting unlawfully yielded to White House pressure by rescinding its satellite funding. FCC Chair Brendan Carr also floated a potential auction that could allow broadcasters to opt out of traditional public interest rules in exchange for flexible licensing, fueling new questions about how far government oversight should extend in the modern media era.
The Commissioner also tied her remarks to the event’s theme of innovation, citing 5G, broadband expansion, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence as essential to both communication access and freedom of expression. She said US leadership depends on eliminating outdated rules, optimizing spectrum use, and maintaining international cooperation.
“At the FCC, we are committed to using every tool at our disposal to promote US leadership in technological innovation, across broadcast, broadband, and beyond,” Trusty said. “Free speech and innovation are not separate stories. They are two sides of the same coin.”
