How The FCC Plans To Weigh Public Comment In Probe Of ABC’s ‘The View’

Since ABC launched an ad campaign earlier this week pushing back on the FCC‘s crackdown on The View, more than 50,000 public comments have been filed with the agency, an uptick from the 2,500 or so before the spots started running.

On Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who launched the investigation into the show and whether it violated the agency’s equal time rule, explained how they will weigh the public input. In May, the agency opened public comment on an issue at the heart of the probe: Whether the longtime talk show qualifies as a “bona fide” news program.

“This isn’t necessarily that out of the ordinary for the FCC,” Carr told reporters of the comments submitted so far. “When we go through proceedings in which there is a lot of public interest … we have our ways of combing through the comments and we evaluate the merits of what people are saying.”

Asked about the legal ramifications if the comments overwhelmingly favor one side or the other, Carr cited Administrative Procedure Act standards that “you have to identify and to respond to all significant arguments that are made in the record. It’s not necessarily simply a matter of counting, ‘51% of people said this and 40% of people said that.’”

He added, “We ultimately make a decision based on the facts and the law. What matters is the merits of what people are saying. What are the facts they’re bringing to bear? What are the legal arguments that they are making?”

Carr launched an investigation into the show after it featured James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, last February. The probe is of ABC’s owned station in Houston, which held that the show does not fall under equal time requirements because of exemptions given to “bona fide” news programs. The equal time regulation requires broadcasters who feature political candidates to offer comparable time to rivals, if requested.

The Disney-owned network has said that the FCC’s efforts are a chill to the First Amendment, targeting a show that has been subject to attacks from the right and the Trump White House.

ABC’s ad campaign features a narrator saying, “The View has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years now. The FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice.” The ad features a QR code to link viewers to the FCC proceeding, with a deadline of July 6.

The ad campaign quickly triggered a wave of comments siding with the show, a contrast to complaints earlier in the FCC proceeding that complained that The View was biased.

“Disney, from my perspective, is running a fairly standard, off the shelf PR strategy,” Carr told reporters on Thursday. “I guess they want to fight this out in the press.”

In January, the FCC issued guidance warning broadcasters that TV talk shows may not be exempt from equal time requirements, breaking with years in which such programs operated with the assumption that they would not be on the hook for providing airtime to a political guest’s rival candidates.

But in its filing with the FCC, ABC pointed to a 2002 FCC ruling that confirmed that The View was exempt. The show is produced under the network’s news division.

Carr echoed an FCC statement from earlier this week, calling the ABC ads a “campaign of misinformation.”

He pointed to the statement that the FCC is “trying to control who is allowed to appear on the show.”

“The law simply requires the offering of comparable time and placement,” Carr said. “It doesn’t dictate you have to be on any particular show, so to the extent that was a statement of law, that’s not consistent with what the law provides.”

He said that the factors being considered are “whether broadcasters are making decisions based on the desire to promote or help partisan political candidates, and there is a lot of case law historically on that.”

The network’s attorneys, though, have argued that requiring airtime for shows like The View “does not expand speech; rather, it makes coverage infeasible, which ultimately reduces it.” As an example, they pointed to California’s recent gubernatorial primary, which has 60 qualified candidates who each could demand time.

The network also has argued that it was being singled out while radio talk shows, dominated by conservative voices, are not subject to the FCC’s same scrutiny. Sean Hannity’s radio show, for instance, featured Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate in Texas for the U.S. Senate, last December. The equal time rule applies to TV and radio, although the rule does not extend to streaming and only in more limited ways to cable and satellite.

Among those siding with ABC is FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, who said that the exemption to the equal time rule “was granted by Congress to protect editorial independence and the free flow of information, values that sit at the core of the First Amendment.” She added that the “overwhelming majority” of the comments support ABC and The View.

She said, “But let’s not pretend that the public’s opinion will have an impact on the outcome. I suspect this FCC will cherry pick the submissions of partisan organizations to support its goal of silencing critics.”

The public comments are not taken as a vote either way, though, she noted. She said that while the FCC’s obligation is to “review comments and respond to them,” that doesn’t mean they are counted and a decision is made based on quantity of sentiment.

The FCC also is holding another proceeding on the renewal of the broadcast licenses for eight ABC owned stations. The first license renewal was not scheduled until 2028, but Carr ordered an early process, citing the investigation of Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. 

The network also has blasted the early renewal process as an effort to chill disfavored speech. A separate campaign has been running on stations, urging viewers to submit comments by a deadline of July 29. So far, almost 40,000 comments have been filed, compared to just 30 before the ABC ads started running.