ABC Just Asking: What If We *Didn't* Comply In Advance?
Is that even allowed?
It looks like ABC has finally figured out that it can’t win by appeasing the Trump administration, and has finally decided to fight back against the administration. About time! Friday, ABC accused the government of trying to violate its free speech rights through heavy-handed regulatory threats issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
ABC finally stood up for itself in a filing with the FCC on behalf of KTRK, its affiliate in Houston, after the FCC claimed that the ABC program The View had violated federal “Equal Time” rules by interviewing Texas state Rep. James Talarico on February 2. Those rules require entertainment shows that include candidates for office to provide equal time to competing candidates, if the other candidates request it. Yes, we are old enough to remember Republicans railing against the “Equal Time” rules — and especially the broader, still-dead “Fairness Doctrine” — as communist infiltration sapping and impurifying our precious bodily fluids.
Regardless, the regulation includes an exemption for “bona fide” news programming, which is why for decades talk shows have had political guests on without any problems: There was a tacit understanding that it’s good for viewers to know who’s running for office and what they think. But Trump’s pet FCC Chair Brendan Carr has weaponized the equal time rule, not so much to ensure “fairness” as to punish anyone on TV Trump doesn’t like.
This is a long-term project for Carr, who wrote Project 2025’s chapter on how the FCC could combat TV’s “liberal bias” and whined about Saturday Night Live featuring Kamala Harris in a sketch before the 2024 election — without even inviting Trump on to do his standup set about sharks and electric boats.
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In its filing, ABC argues that the FCC’s threatened actions would have a chilling effect on broadcasters, which of course is exactly what Trump wants — though okay, that last bit is us, not ABC.
“Some may dislike certain—or even most—of the viewpoints expressed on The View or similar shows. Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views,” the filing says. It’s not the government’s job to tell broadcasters what views are allowed, you dinguses:
“The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed. In fact, while the Commission now questions The View’s decades-long exemption, it has not expressed any inclination to apply a similar interpretation of the equal opportunities rule to other broadcasters, including the many voices—conservative and liberal—on broadcast radio.”
The filing then points out that if the government uses the FCC to “discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in a Republican administration, there is little preventing it from doing so when the Democrats are in charge.” Just for emphasis, the filing links that in a footnote to Ted Cruz’s warning during Carr’s jihad against Jimmy Kimmel last fall: “It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”
Yes, yes, worst person you know, but great point.
ABC also points out that, ahem, The View already received a “bona fide news exemption” 20 years ago and that nothing has changed in the law or in how The View presents public figures. But after the Talarico interview, the filing says, the FCC ordered KTRK to submit a new request to determine whether The View qualifies for the exemption, and if not, then KTRK would need to file paperwork to comply with the equal time rules and allow other candidates to request equal time.
In an especially sleazy little detail, the filing notes that the FCC’s Media Bureau said in a March letter to KTRK that The View’s qualification for the news exemption “is not a position uniformly held by broadcasters that air the program.” As evidence that its status was in doubt, the letter said that “19 ABC affiliates serving parts of Texas all filed a notice of Mr. Talarico’s February 2 appearance[.]” The implication is that KTRK (which is owned by ABC) stubbornly refused to follow the law like those other upstanding ABC affiliates.
But wait, the filing points out, there was something missing from the FCC’s supplemental nastygram to KTRK: The letter
neglected to note, however, that while certain ABC affiliates documented Talarico’s appearance in their online public inspection files, the filings were made more than two weeks after Talarico’s appearance and apparently at the request of the FCC, which reportedly promised to eschew enforcement for the late filing. KTRK Television received no such request and no such offer, despite the Bureau specifically contacting it about the Talarico appearance less than 10 days after it occurred.
That’s pretty goddamn Trumpy, huh? Make an offer that 19 other stations couldn’t refuse, then use that as leverage against the network-owned affiliate, and thereby ABC itself. Nice TV station you got here, etc.
The filing also suggested that if the FCC continues to squeeze, ABC may follow up with lawsuits, although it didn’t say so explicitly. Rather, ABC said it appears the FCC is pursuing “major shifts in policy and practice” that exceed its authority, and that “Such an abrupt and substantial change in long-established policy requires the action of the full Commission and the oversight of the courts.”
It’s nice to see ABC pushing back finally, especially after its earlier decisions to settle that Trump defamation lawsuit it would almost certainly have won and its decision last fall to briefly take Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
Get your popcorn, folks. This oughta be good.
[NBC News / ABC filing with FCC / NYT / Hollywood Reporter / Deadline]
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So another neighbor seems to be moving out and they had left a small pile of stuff for people to grab, some books, picture frames, puzzles, a little table and chair.
I grabbed a couple picture frames and the little table for my balcony.
People were going through and grabbing stuff, great way to give things a new life.
BUT THEN a storm threatened!
The last remaining books and odds and ends would be ruined and end up as trash clogging the sidewalk and street.
So a brave ziggywiggy ran out and moved it under the bus stop. Then I took the chair which is an awesome 1970's type wood dining chair that totally reminds me of my grandma's place.
So now the remaining books and a puzzle can still find a new home.
yay for happy endings!
A red-winged blackbird has its eye on you!
I finally got the shot of one these birds that I have been trying to get for a few weeks now.
https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-256380766?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc