Orientation summary — a fast, cited starting point, not a substitute for reading the filings. Generated from the public ECFS record.
Public comments — 8,802 filings
Sentiment of the general public's web-form comments — separate from the industry positions. 8,802 comments, 2,909 distinct versions after grouping form letters.
Bottom line: Public comments run overwhelmingly opposed. This reflects the volume of public write-in comments — not the weight of legal argument, or the standard the FCC applies.
Estimated split: 3% support · 96% oppose · 1% other. Support = wants the FCC to adopt/keep the action; Oppose = wants it rejected; Unclear = neutral or off-topic.
How we know: 66% of comments are grouped form letters classified exactly; the rest are estimated from a random sample of 310 distinct comments.
Top themes
- censorship unconstitutional — 5,185 (oppose)
- censorship wrong — 156 (oppose)
- un-American censorship — 149 (oppose)
- censorship unAmerican — 86 (oppose)
- unconstitutional censorship — 80 (oppose)
- censorship un-American — 73 (oppose)
- off-topic — 69 (other)
- censorship dictatorship — 57 (oppose)
What people wrote
- OPPOSE: “Dear FCC Commissioners: In my opinion, censoring the media is The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not be used as an attack dog to silence media outlets, censor free speech and go after political opposition. The FCC is meant to regulate communications in the public” — 4,964 filed this
- OPPOSE: “Dear FCC Commissioners: In my opinion, censoring the media is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!!!!! The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not be used as an attack dog to silence media outlets, censor free speech and go after political opposition. The FCC is meant to regulate co” — 162 filed this
- OPPOSE: “Dear FCC Commissioners: In my opinion, censoring the media is Wrong The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not be used as an attack dog to silence media outlets, censor free speech and go after political opposition. The FCC is meant to regulate communications in th” — 85 filed this
- SUPPORT: “In response to the public notice regarding 60 Minutes potentially violating the news distortion policy, I see no merit in such an accusation. After reviewing both the video and transcript, it is evident that two portions of the same response were aired at different times—a routin” — 2 filed this
- SUPPORT: “I fully support the FCC‘s decision to look into this matter, and I think it needs to be adjudicated as it was clearly deceptive in nature. For far too long news outlets, particularly the large ones have selectively and deceptively edited interviews to leave out important context,”
- SUPPORT: “News companies should not be allowed to edit interviews in this way regardless of the candidates political affiliation.”
How this sentiment is measured
We read the public express comments from the FCC's ECFS record, group identical form letters and count them exactly, then classify a random sample of the distinct versions and extrapolate to all 8,802 comments. This is public sentiment only; it is not a measure of the legal merits or how the Commission will rule.