ABC has accused the Federal Communications Campaign of waging an “ongoing retaliation campaign” against the network, according to Thursday article by Deadline. The company cites the FCC’s recent decision to review the network’s licenses earlier than usual as an attempt to stifle freedom of the press.
“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” reads a memo from ABC, obtained via Deadline. “Across the government, regulatory and contracting carrots and sticks have been trained on disfavored speakers. The tools vary; the objective does not: a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely.”
Since the beginning of his second administration, ABC has been a frequent target of the 47th President’s ire for a variety of reasons. Shortly after his re-election, the network settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump for $15 million after ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos incorrectly said that the President was found liable for rape in his case against author E. Jean Carroll (in reality, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape). In September, ABC temporarily pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air in response to threats from FCC chairman and Trump appointee Brendan Carr, who took umbrage with Kimmel’s statements regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In December, the President posted the following on his Truth Social account: “If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!”
Eight months later, it would seem that Carr took the President’s request to heart — or ABC believes he did, at least. Though the network’s eight station licenses normally shouldn’t require review until 2028 under standard FCC practices, Carr called for an early review of those licenses over alleged violations of the administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “Broadcasters know that they are prohibited from engaging in invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” an FCC spokesperson told Deadline, “that they must comply with political equal opportunity regulations, and that they are barred from running broadcast hoaxes or distorting the news. The FCC is going to hold broadcasters accountable to the full extent of the law, regardless of any disinformation campaign that some of them may choose to run.”
Per Deadline, of the 153,000 comments submitted during the public portion of the FCC’s proceeding against ABC, over 86 percent voiced their support for the renewal of the company’s license. While the courts have yet to make a decision, it would seem that the court of public opinion has already chosen its champion.