Source: CNN
ABC is asking viewers to help defend its local stations and “The View” as Disney’s fight with the Trump administration moves into a new public phase.
On Monday, Disney’s local ABC stations began to air messages alerting viewers to the government’s virtually unprecedented challenges to their station licenses.
The ads urge viewers to contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by scanning a QR code that links to the agency’s public comment page.
“Channel 7 has proudly served you for more than 75 years,” one of the spots airing on WABC in New York says, but “now the FCC is questioning our commitment to the community. Show your support.”
“You have until July 29th to tell the FCC to keep your trusted local station on the air,” the spot adds.
The ads are timed to the public comment period for the FCC’s demand that Disney reapply early for the renewal of its station licenses.
WABC and the company’s seven other stations ordinarily have their licenses renewed every eight years without any commotion, but this year, President Donald Trump’s allies have turned licensing into a high-profile free speech battle.
FCC chair Brendan Carr insists that the early-renewal order to Disney is the result of his investigation into Disney’s DEI initiatives. Industry analysts, however, have called that rationale strained at best and suggested it masks his political motivations.
Along with the license challenge, Carr has also opened an investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show “The View” over possible violations of the government’s so-called equal-time rule. That, too, is widely seen as a political maneuver, since “The View” regularly airs criticism of the Trump administration.
Disney has strongly defended ABC and cast both FCC actions as a threat to the First Amendment. Its filings with the government have laid the groundwork for a future court fight.
But the public comment period comes first.
Disney may be anticipating that Trump allies will fill the FCC’s inboxes with complaints about ABC, and thus wants to galvanize viewers and supporters to write in, too.
Disney noted Monday that the FCC’s actions involving “The View” and the local stations are separate proceedings, but they’re both happening this summer and, in the company’s view, they involve the same free speech principle.
“‘The View’ has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly thirty years,” an ad airing during the talk show says. “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.”
Carr says he is merely enforcing a rule already on the books, though his position is a marked change from the practices of past FCC chairs.