ABC tells government to exit its newsrooms

ABC responds to the FCC after the agency opened an investigation into the matter The viewBroadcast times for political candidates. in Letter to the FCC. On Tuesday, the ABC said the agency’s actions posed a risk to editorial independence by targeting programs “perceived as unfriendly to the current administration.” As I mentioned earlier Winding.

In February, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr certain He reconsiders The viewIt was labeled a “bona fide” news program after the talk show interviewed Rep. James Tallarico (D-Texas), who is running for a Senate seat. The viewIts classification exempts it from “Equal time rule,” which requires broadcasters to give candidates vying for the same office equal airtime on the network.

“The First Amendment does not allow government to sit in the editorial chair,” ABC wrote in response to the February investigation. “Yet that is the seat the Commission now proposes to fill – determining which radio programs qualify as legitimate news and, for those it finds lacking, forcing them to hand over their airtime to guests they never chose to show.”

The FCC initially decided so The view is a bona fide news program in 2002. ABC says that instead The view He has not changed since then, but rather the “political climate surrounding him” has changed. “The committee focused its attention on daytime and late-night television,” ABC says. former Late show Host Stephen Colbert He says CBS banned him than aired an interview with Rep. Tallarico in February due to concerns surrounding changing FCC policies. Meanwhile, traffic lights Reports it The view He has avoided hosting political candidates since the FCC investigation.

ABC says: “An exemption that protects editorial independence only when the speaker’s policy satisfies those in power protects nothing at all; the shelter it provides for one program today will deny another program tomorrow, when the gavel changes — as it inevitably will.”

In April, The FCC required ABC stations The Disney-owned company filed for an early renewal of its license in April as part of an investigation into the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, raising concerns about the agency’s interference in content broadcast by broadcasters.