Tell the FCC to leave ABC’s licenses alone

Action

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

In April, the Federal Communications Commission ordered an early review of broadcast licenses for eight Disney-owned local ABC television stations, claiming to be investigating Disney’s DEI practices. The announcement came days after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump feigned outrage about a joke from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show ABC airs. The FCC is chaired by Brendan Carr, a Trump super-loyalist who has made clear that he views the agency’s role as furthering Trump’s agenda.

Carr is once again manufacturing bogus pretexts to harass and jawbone licensees that air content his boss doesn’t like. Join us in telling the FCC to back off.

Action 1 // takes 1 minute

Submit a comment to the FCC

First Name *

Last Name

Email Address *

Street Address *

Zip Code * Enter a five digit US ZIP code

Edit this message so that it is unique to you:

I urge the FCC to stop retaliating against ABC on President Donald Trump’s behalf and to renew the broadcast licenses of Disney’s eight television stations owned and operated by ABC.

The FCC’s decision to require an early license renewal is unprecedented and a threat to the First Amendment. Journalists and outlets must remain independent so they can report the news without influence from or retribution by the government. Retracting a broadcaster’s license in retaliation for content it airs or viewpoints it expresses would violate the Constitution.

Trump has a long-standing grudge against ABC because he dislikes its coverage of his administration – just this month, he called for ABC’s licenses to be revoked based on its constitutionally protected decision not to air his speech. FCC Chair Brendan Carr then said that decision will factor into his agency’s reviews of the licenses, which he previously claimed was about DEI, not content.

Carr has made abundantly clear that he supports Trump’s goal of silencing his critics and reshaping the media — and ABC specifically — to be more friendly to Trump and his agenda. In fact, Carr has expressly refused to characterize his FCC as independent from Trump and even scrubbed references to independence from the commission’s website.

Given Trump’s animus toward ABC and Carr’s often-professed loyalty to Trump, the American public will understand that any actions the FCC takes against ABC are politically motivated censorship, despite the pretexts the FCC claims (which Carr’s recent remarks about Trump’s speech belie entirely). As Carr himself once said, the FCC “does not have a roving mandate to police speech,” whether news reporting or comedians’ late-night jokes.

I urge the FCC to reaffirm its commitment to fairness and neutrality in its licensing procedures and renew ABC’s licenses.

URLs are not allowed in this message.

* Required. We will not share your information with third parties. Learn more

Something went wrong processing this request. Please try again later.

Opt in to email updates from Freedom of the Press Foundation

Something went wrong and your email updates subscription could not be processed. Please visit our signup page and try again.

Thank you for urging the FCC to back off ABC.

Donate

Share this message on social media:

Join me in urging the FCC to stop retaliating against ABC on Trump’s behalf by July 29: https://freedom.press/action/tell-the-fcc-to-leave-abcs-licenses-alone/

Submit a comment to the FCC

You completed all actions for this issue.

Sign Up. Take Action.