ABC is firing back at the Federal Communications Commission after the agency opened an investigation into The View’s airtime of political candidates. In a letter to the FCC on Tuesday, ABC argues that the agency’s actions pose a risk to editorial independence by targeting programs “perceived as unfriendly to the current administration,” as reported earlier by The Wrap.
In February, the FCC Chair Brendan Carr confirmed that he’s reexamining The View’s classification as a “bona fide” news program after the talk show held an interview with Rep. James Talarico (D-TX), who is running for a spot in the Senate. The View’s classification exempts it from the “equal time rule,” which requires broadcasters to give candidates running for the same office equal air time on the network.
“The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair,” ABC writes in response to the February investigation. “Yet that is the seat the Commission now proposes to take — deciding which broadcast programs qualify as legitimate news and, for those it finds wanting, compelling them to surrender their airtime to guests they never chose to feature.”
The FCC initially determined that The View is a bona fide news program in 2002. ABC argues that while The View hasn’t changed since then, the “political climate around it” has. “The Commission has trained its attention on daytime and late-night television,” ABC says. Former Late Show host Stephen Colbert says CBS blocked him from airing an interview with Rep. Talarico in February due to concerns surrounding the FCC’s changing policies. Meanwhile, Semafor reports that The View has avoided hosting political candidates since the FCC’s inquiry.
“An exemption that protects editorial independence only when the speaker’s politics please those in power protects nothing at all; the shelter it gives one program today it will deny another tomorrow, when the gavel changes hands — as it inevitably will,” ABC says.
In April, the FCC ordered ABC stations owned by Disney to file for an early license renewal in April as part of an investigation into the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusivity policies, raising concerns about the agency’s interference with the content aired by broadcasters.