ABC has pushed back against Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s review of The View, telling the agency that the inquiry threatens the editorial independence of broadcast news programs.
In a Tuesday letter filed with the FCC, ABC said the commission is scrutinizing shows “perceived as unfriendly to the current administration.” The dispute centers on whether The View should keep its status as a “bona fide” news program, a classification the FCC granted in 2002.
That label is not just a badge for television executives to frame and hang in a hallway. It determines whether a program is exempt from the equal-time rule, which generally requires broadcasters to offer comparable airtime to rival candidates for the same office when a legally qualified candidate appears on air.
Carr confirmed in February that he was reexamining The View after the program interviewed Rep. James Talarico, a Texas Democrat who is running for a U.S. Senate seat. Without the bona fide news exemption, ABC could face demands to give competing candidates access to airtime on the network.
ABC’s filing argues that the First Amendment does not allow the FCC to decide which editorial programs count as legitimate news and then force broadcasters to feature guests they did not choose. The company wrote that the commission is proposing to take “an editor’s chair,” language that is not subtle and was clearly not meant to be.
The rule at issue
The equal-time rule is an old broadcast-law mechanism aimed at preventing licensed radio and television stations from favoring one candidate over another through free airtime. The rule has exceptions, including for bona fide newscasts, news interviews and news events.
ABC’s argument is that The View still fits inside that news-program exemption and that nothing about the show has changed since the FCC first recognized it in 2002. What has changed, ABC said, is the political environment around the program.
The company told the commission that its attention has turned toward daytime and late-night television. That claim tracks with a broader fight over political interviews on entertainment-adjacent programs, where the line between news, commentary and celebrity chat is legally boring until a regulator decides to make it expensive.
The Wrap previously reported on ABC’s formal response to the FCC.
A broader pressure campaign, ABC says
ABC’s filing also points to complaints from former Late Show host Stephen Colbert. Colbert has said CBS prevented him from airing an interview with a representative, according to reporting cited in the dispute.
The FCC has not, based on the available record, revoked The View’s classification. Carr’s review is still a review. ABC’s position is that even reopening the question risks letting federal officials punish programs based on perceived political hostility.
For broadcasters, the practical stakes are direct: if the FCC narrows the news exemption, producers may have to weigh ordinary political interviews against potential equal-time obligations. That would give regulators leverage over guest booking, which is exactly the seat ABC says the government is not allowed to occupy.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
