Tell the FCC to stop retaliating against ABC

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AP Photo/Gabriela Passos

After James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate primary in Texas, appeared on ‘The View,’ the Brendan Carr-led FCC told ABC it had to prove that its daytime talk show qualifies for an exemption to the FCC’s ‘equal time’ rule. Without that exemption, ‘The View’ would be obligated to give equal time to all candidates for the same public office. Talk shows that the Trump administration likes, on the other hand, got no such demand from the FCC.

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.

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I am writing in support of ABC and KTRK-TV’s petition for a declaratory ruling concerning “The View.” I urge the FCC to reaffirm its long-standing precedent regarding The View’s eligibility for the bona fide news exemption.

News interview programming keeps public debate alive by connecting Americans directly with elected officials, candidates, policymakers, experts, and other public figures — and interviewers need editorial independence to do it. Journalists and producers, not government regulators, should decide what is newsworthy and which speakers to platform.

The FCC has long been guided by principles of editorial independence, viewpoint neutrality, and open democratic discourse in its approach to bona fide news programming. Determining that “The View” no longer qualifies for the exemption it was granted by the FCC over 20 years ago would be at odds with decades of FCC precedent, as well as the First Amendment.

Reversing course at this time would constitute unconstitutional retaliation for ABC’s exercise of its First Amendment rights. President Donald Trump has a long-standing grudge against ABC due to his dislike of its coverage of his administration, and FCC Chair Brendan 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.

No matter what justification the commission offers, the American public will understand that any actions the FCC takes against ABC or “The View” are politically motivated censorship. As Carr himself once said, the FCC “does not have a roving mandate to police speech.”

I urge you to grant ABC and KTRK-TV’s petition.

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