Disney’s ABC Asserts ‘The View’ Qualifies for News Exemption in New Filing

Joy Behar looks and acts nothing like David Muir or Robin Roberts, but ABC asserts her program, “The View” is entitled to the same protections as program such as “World News Tonight” or “Good Morning America.”

More than 76,000 comments have been filed by the public with the Federal Communications Commission after Disney’s ABC in June urged people tuning into “The View” to weigh in as the company grapples with unorthodox pressure from the Trump administration. The FCC, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, ordered Disney to file for renewals for eight of its stations years ahead of schedule. In filings, Disney has said its applications were made “under protest in response to an unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional order.

Many viewers agree. “I am horrified to see what is happening to broadcasting under this FCC. It is the job of the FCC to ensure that media follows the law and serves the public, not to harrass (sic.) and bully programming with which the current administration disagrees,” said Dana Thomas, one of the people who filed comments. “The FCC should not be selecting what I watch,” wrote Iris Smith, another respondent.

“The commenters are right to be concerned,” ABC said in its filing, made on Monday, July 6. “The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair.”

“The View,” which has thrived in recent years with discussion of politics, has also found itself in the administration’s cross-hairs. The FCC has probed whether the program has violated so-called “equal-time” election laws following the appearance of political figures, launching its investigation after James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, appeared on the show in February. The FCC issued new guidance in January that late-night and daytime hosts needed to give equal time to political candidates from various parties, claiming the programs might be working along partisan lines.

The messaging and tactics are reminiscent of what a company like Disney might do — and in some cases, has done — if it were embroiled in a contract dispute with one of its distributors, and wanted to reach some of the people who might suffer adverse effects the most.

Approximately 50 organizations and advocacy groups also filed in support of “The View,” including Young Voices, the ACLU, FIRE, UltraViolet, and TechFreedom.

“The Commission should decide this proceeding the way it would want the rule applied under any administration: by reaffirming that The View is a bona fide news interview program and that the 2002 Declaratory Ruling remains in force,” the filing said. “The record strongly supports that result, and the law — not to mention the Constitution — compels it.”