{"id":23772,"date":"2026-08-01T01:42:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T20:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23772"},"modified":"2026-08-01T01:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T20:42:41","slug":"fcc-chairman-defends-actions-against-abc-says-broadcasters-must-operate-in-the-public-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23772","title":{"rendered":"FCC chairman defends actions against ABC, says broadcasters must operate &#8216;in the public interest&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday defended <a data-ylk=\"slk:his agency's recent actions against ABC,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/abc-view-fcc-equal-time-9c0449a4bf7340afb0c09fe8f466a356\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">his agency&#8217;s recent actions against ABC,<\/a> saying broadcasters have a duty to &#8220;operate in the public interest&#8221; and the FCC is merely trying to restore that standard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Broadcasters like ABC, Carr said in an interview on the Fox Business Network, &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Look, as a country, we should have a trusted, respected news media, and we&#8217;re not there,&#8221; Carr told anchor Maria Bartiromo. &#8220;So I hope more broadcasters return to their public interest obligations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">The FCC has been pushing ABC<\/h2>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The remarks came a day after ABC, issuing another salvo in an ever-escalating battle with President Donald Trump&#8217;s FCC, again accused the agency of a brazen attempt to chill its constitutionally protected free speech \u2014 and by extension, that of every media outlet in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">ABC accused the agency of retaliating against it simply because it doesn&#8217;t like the political content of ABC&#8217;s shows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The network&#8217;s new comments came in its latest filing to the agency, expressing its formal opposition to the FCC&#8217;s early review, launched in April, of eight ABC local broadcast licenses well before they expire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;There is no question why the Commission is singling out these eight stations,&#8221; the filing said. &#8220;Each is owned by ABC, and the Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC&#8217;s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country,&#8221; it continued. &#8220;Accommodate the Administration&#8217;s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price. \u2026 The tools vary; the objective does not: a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The license review is only one part of a long-simmering confrontation between ABC and the FCC. The network is also battling Carr&#8217;s efforts to make &#8220;The View,&#8221; a talk show whose hosts and guests have frequently angered Trump, subject to equal-time rules \u2014 a question ABC says the agency itself resolved more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Kimmel has also been a target<\/h2>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Trump has also repeatedly called for late-night host <a data-ylk=\"slk:Jimmy Kimmel;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/jimmy-kimmel\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> to be fired.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When the FCC launched its early review of ABC&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Operating in the public interest, he said, &#8220;means you can&#8217;t run news distortions, broadcast hoax. You can&#8217;t be engaging in this invidious form of DEI discrimination.&#8221; He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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 \u2014 more than 95% of which it said were supportive of ABC&#8217;s position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The outpouring of support for the Stations has been unprecedented for a license renewal proceeding,&#8221; it said. &#8220;These supporters span the ideological spectrum but share a fundamental commitment to free speech and press freedom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In its lengthy filing, ABC also noted how rare it is that the FCC would call for early license renewal applications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;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,&#8221; ABC said. &#8220;The Commission&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;That alone should stop these proceedings in their tracks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday defended his agency&#8217;s recent actions against ABC, saying broadcasters have a duty to &#8220;operate in the public interest&#8221; and the FCC is merely trying to restore that standard. Broadcasters like ABC, Carr said in an interview on the Fox Business Network, &#8220;struck a deal with the American&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/e3f0ecf1ec5aac74f5a0695256988eda0127cb9696c0516125e1703180d14147\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w1200;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fap.org%2F2004c8eef6f30dd72ca47d02db36bbae","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}