FCC chairman defends actions against ABC, says broadcasters must operate ‘in the public interest’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday defended his agency’s recent actions against ABC, saying broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest” and the FCC is merely trying to restore that standard.

Broadcasters like ABC, Carr said in an interview on the Fox Business Network, “struck a deal with the American people. You broadcasters get subsidized access, free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves, worth billions of dollars. In exchange, you have to operate in the public interest.”

“Look, as a country, we should have a trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there,” Carr told anchor Maria Bartiromo. “So I hope more broadcasters return to their public interest obligations.”

The FCC has been pushing ABC

The remarks came a day after ABC, issuing another salvo in an ever-escalating battle with President Donald Trump’s FCC, again accused the agency of a brazen attempt to chill its constitutionally protected free speech — and by extension, that of every media outlet in the country.

ABC accused the agency of retaliating against it simply because it doesn’t like the political content of ABC’s shows.

The network’s new comments came in its latest filing to the agency, expressing its formal opposition to the FCC’s early review, launched in April, of eight ABC local broadcast licenses well before they expire.

“There is no question why the Commission is singling out these eight stations,” the filing said. “Each is owned by ABC, and the Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs.”

“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country,” it continued. “Accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price. … The tools vary; the objective does not: a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely. “

The license review is only one part of a long-simmering confrontation between ABC and the FCC. The network is also battling Carr’s efforts to make “The View,” a talk show whose hosts and guests have frequently angered Trump, subject to equal-time rules — a question ABC says the agency itself resolved more than two decades ago.

The rules require granting equal airtime to competing candidates for office. Bona fide news programs are exempt. The FCC qualified the show as such in a 2002 decision.

Kimmel has also been a target

Trump has also repeatedly called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired.

When the FCC launched its early review of ABC’s licenses in April, it came amid a fight with Kimmel over a joke that offended Trump. The agency, however, cited diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the company, and Carr brought them up in the Fox interview.

Operating in the public interest, he said, “means you can’t run news distortions, broadcast hoax. You can’t be engaging in this invidious form of DEI discrimination.” He did not elaborate.

In its filing Thursday, ABC referred to over 140,000 comments from viewers, part of the public comment period on the issue, posted to the FCC website — more than 95% of which it said were supportive of ABC’s position.

“The outpouring of support for the Stations has been unprecedented for a license renewal proceeding,” it said. “These supporters span the ideological spectrum but share a fundamental commitment to free speech and press freedom.”

In its lengthy filing, ABC also noted how rare it is that the FCC would call for early license renewal applications.

“Until the day before the Commission took this step, it had not called for license renewal applications ahead of schedule for more than fifty years,” ABC said. “The Commission’s departure from those norms lays bare what is really going on: the Administration is retaliating against ABC for the exercise of its First Amendment rights.

“That alone should stop these proceedings in their tracks.“

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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.