Carr also opened an unusual review of ABC owner Disney’s TV station licenses. The eight broadcast TV stations owned by the company protested the review, accusing the FCC of trying to suppress speech as part of “an unprecedented attack on a single company’s entire portfolio of broadcast licenses.”
The station license review is ostensibly based on allegations that Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices violate anti-discrimination rules. But Carr previously threatened the licenses of ABC stations for airing Jimmy Kimmel, and ABC said the FCC is “using the license process renewal to punish a broadcaster for its editorial choices.”
The FCC slammed Disney in a statement provided to news outlets yesterday. “Disney wants the FCC to classify ‘The View’ as a ‘bona fide news program.’ And it has chosen to run a campaign of misinformation to make its case—misleading viewers about the law. That is a choice,” the FCC statement said.
We asked the FCC public relations office to explain which part of ABC’s ad is “misinformation” and will update this article if we get a response.
Carr responds
Carr responded to ABC’s ad in an X post. “Disney wants the FCC to classify The View as a ‘bona fide news program’ under federal law,” Carr wrote. “Doing so would exempt The View from the political equal time requirements that Congress passed decades ago. What do you think? Is The View bona fide news?”
Carr’s post did not mention that The View already received an exemption from the rule 24 years ago.
“Until now, it has never been disputed that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program,” ABC said in a May 7 filing. “In 2002, ABC requested and obtained a Declaratory Ruling from the Mass Media Bureau confirming that status. That Declaratory Ruling remains in full force and effect. The Commission has taken no action over the last two decades to modify or overturn the Declaratory Ruling and there is no basis for doing so now.”
Carr’s threats to broadcasters like ABC have drawn bipartisan opposition. US Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently proposed a law on “jawboning” to stop federal officials from trying to coerce broadcasters or tech platforms into restricting speech.
