FCC’s warnings on political interviews ‘chill’ First Amendment, ABC says

Disney’s ABC lambasted the Federal Communications Commission’s newfound efforts to regulate interviews on broadcast talk shows, warning that Chair Brendan Carr’s “unprecedented” actions threaten to “chill” the First Amendment and stifle coverage of political candidates.

The regulatory filing marked the latest stage in a confrontation between the broadcasting networks and Carr, who has used his tenure atop the nominally independent FCC to wage a series of fights against perceived foes of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In this case, the dispute involves Carr’s efforts to wield a decades-old “equal time” rule to demand that broadcast talk shows such as ABC’s “The View” offer equal time to both parties when interviewing political candidates. Such shows had previously relied on the FCC’s exemption for what it calls “bona fide” news interviews — but now, their ability to air those interviews is in doubt, ABC wrote.

“Uncertainty as to the scope of broadcast licensees’ editorial discretion threatens to limit news coverage of political candidates and chill core First Amendment-protected speech for years and potentially decades to come,” ABC wrote in the 52-page petition to the agency, unveiled Friday. “As the 2026 midterm election approaches, the American people need more access to political news and more exposure to political candidates, not less.”

An FCC spokesperson defended Carr’s approach and but told POLITICO that the agency would review ABC’s arguments that “The View” should be exempt from the equal time rules.

“Decades ago, Congress passed a law that generally prohibits broadcast television programs from putting a thumb on the scale in favor of one political candidate over another,” said the spokesperson, who was granted anonymity in keeping with commission practice. “Specifically, Congress put protections in place to ensure that covered programs offer legally qualified candidates for office (both Republican and Democrat) equal time on the public airwaves. The equal time law encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections.”

Carr earlier launched an investigation into “The View” over its compliance with the guidance issued in January, which said daytime and late-night shows should not presume to be exempt from the equal time requirements. Weeks later, CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert accused his network of squelching an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico for fear of running afoul of Carr’s guidance.

In its petition, ABC requested that the FCC honor its “bona fide news” exemption for “The View” and warned that the “Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly.”

ABC also asked that Carr quickly provide greater certainty to broadcasters about what they can air, particularly given the looming election.

“To do anything else — on the eve of an election cycle — would compound the uncertainty and resulting First Amendment chill that the Commission’s recent actions have engendered,” ABC wrote.

The filing comes amid a broader fight between Disney and Carr, who last week directed the company to file a license renewal application for its eight TV stations years ahead of schedule as a result of his investigation into the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, cheered Disney’s pushback.

“The days of the FCC as a paper tiger are numbered,” Gomez wrote on X. “What the public will remember is who complied in advance and who fought back. I’m glad Disney is choosing courage over capitulation.”