The Disney Company claims in a lawsuit filed earlier this week that ABC’s “The View” has had to be “more circumspect” in the content it chooses to air due to “escalating pressures” from the Federal Communications Commission.
In May, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr asked the public to weigh in on whether “The View” truly qualifies as a news program and therefore is not subject to broadcast laws requiring it to provide access to differing political views.
Carr posted at the time, “Disney has filed a petition with the FCC asking the agency to declare that ‘The View’ is exempt from the statutory equal opportunities requirements that would otherwise apply to broadcast shows.” ABC is part of the Disney Corporation.
“Disney argues that ‘The View’ qualifies as ‘bona fide news’ under the law, comparing itself to ‘Meet The Press’ or ‘Face The Nation’,” he added. “Therefore, Disney argues, it can have one partisan candidate for office on ‘The View’ while denying equal opportunities to all others.”
Disney has filed a petition with the FCC asking the agency to declare that The View is exempt from the statutory equal opportunities requirements that would otherwise apply to broadcast shows.
Disney argues that The View qualifies as “bona fide news” under the law, comparing… pic.twitter.com/xyxhvNk3rb
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 22, 2026
The Media Research Center determined that in 2025, “The View” had 128 left-leaning guests and only two conservatives.
In its Tuesday filing in federal district court in Washington, D.C., Disney argued that an FCC order required ABC’s eight owned broadcast stations to file early license renewals.
Deadline described the move as “a very unusual regulatory demand, given that the first of the licenses wasn’t set to expire until 2028.”
The lawsuit alleges, “Again and again, the [Trump] Administration has attacked ABC’s speech—the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech.”
“Those escalating pressures have led Plaintiffs to be more circumspect in booking political candidates on The View, and have resulted in passing on further consideration of booking several political candidates,” Disney said.
“Since the Bureau’s inquiry began, Plaintiffs must now evaluate any invitation to a political candidate for its potential consequences, including whether it might later be cited by the Commission as a basis for non-renewal in the Stations’ impending license renewal process,” the complaint said.
Deadline noted that “‘The View’ has not booked a political candidate since February, when U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s appearance triggered the agency’s investigation. The show also has passed on clips to air during the Hot Topics segment on ‘The View’ and the cold open of the program, out of concern of triggering the equal time requirement, per the lawsuit.”
Disney’s complaint includes a Truth Social post from December, in which President Donald Trump wrote, “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 Licenses be terminated? I say, YES!”
The FCC issued a statement in response to Disney’s lawsuit, saying, “All broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest — even Disney. The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion] discrimination for over a year. Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation as well as their decision to ask a court to stop the FCC from further pursuing matters,” Deadline reported.
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts criticized Carr during a congressional hearing in December for pressuring ABC to take disciplinary action against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September. The late-night host falsely claimed just days after Kirk’s death that his alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was “MAGA.”
Markey spent several minutes during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing trying to build the case that Carr has been using his position as FCC chairman to censor speech that is critical of the Trump administration or conservatives.
Carr noted that under federal law, broadcast networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS are to operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” Cable news networks, such as Fox News or CNN, are not subject to that law.
Markey charged, “Chairman Carr, you are not reinvigorating the public interest standard; you are weaponizing the public interest standard.”
Carr answered, “My job is to enforce the law as passed by Congress that includes a public interest standard. Broadcast TV is fundamentally different than any other media.”
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
