ABC is enlisting the help of viewers in its fight against the Federal Communications Commission amid the agency’s censorship crackdown on The View.
In a new TV spot campaign that launched Monday, the network urged fans of its daytime talk show to offer public comment to the FCC after it ordered Disney to file license renewal applications for eight of its stations years ahead of schedule — marking just the latest instance of pressure from the FCC under Trump-appointed chairman Brendan Carr that has raised eyebrows as a potential attempt at chilling free speech.
“The View has welcomed your favorite guests for nearly 30 years,” the spot says. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice.”
The video then encourages viewers to “tell the FCC to let the viewers decide” by using a QR code that links to the FCC’s website, where users can file an express comment with a deadline of July 6.
A spokesperson for the FCC said in a statement shared with The Independent: “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.”
This is not the first time that members of the public have been asked to weigh in on the feud between The View — which was started by the late legendary broadcast journalist Barbara Walters in 1997 — and the FCC.
Last month, Carr asked for public comment on The View’s request to be labeled as “bona fide news,” which would allow an exemption to the long-established equal time rule.
The equal time rule requires broadcast TV to allow all legitimate political candidates to have the same opportunities to represent themselves on air.
However, the bona fide exemption allows broadcasters to have a political candidate on the show without requiring the broadcaster to give the same airtime to their counterpart if they are invited on the program “on their newsworthiness rather than on the intention to oppose or support a particular candidate,” according to the FCC.
The FCC first announced its investigation into The View regarding the equal time rule in February after the panelists interviewed James Talarico, a Texas candidate for Senate who went on to win the Democratic primary election.
Carr said on Fox News at the time: “The days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for are over. I think President Trump played a key role in just smashing the facade that they still get to decide the narrative here.”
However, when the FCC ordered ABC to apply to renew its broadcast licenses on short notice — despite it not being up for renewal until 2028 — the filing claimed that the request was related to a previous investigation into the company’s DEI practices.
ABC formally submitted license renewal applications for its eight local TV stations last month and said that the FCC’s unusually early request was a clear “threat to the First Amendment.”
“It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America,” the Walt Disney Company-owned network said in its filing. The statement continued: “This is a threat to the First Amendment that this Commission and this proceeding must not be permitted to normalize.”
