ABC asks viewers to protest FCC attempt to "control who is allowed" on The View

ABC is urging viewers to write to the Federal Communications Commission and tell it to stop trying to “control who is allowed to appear” on The View. An ABC commercial that started airing yesterday asked viewers to submit responses to the FCC’s call for public comment on whether the talk show is a “bona fide news interview program.”

“The View has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” ABC’s ad said. “Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed on the show. Viewers, use your voice. Tell the FCC to let the viewers decide.”

For decades, the FCC has classified late-night and daytime entertainment talk shows as bona fide news for the purposes of their interview segments. This makes the shows exempt from the equal-time rule, which requires equal opportunities for opposing political candidates on non-news programming.

Shows are not required to ask for exemptions from the equal-time rule, but some have done so in order to avoid any semblance of doubt. Notable exemptions were given by the FCC to Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, Jerry Springer, Bill Maher, Jay Leno, and Howard Stern. The View itself won a bona fide news exemption from the FCC in 2002, during President George W. Bush’s first term.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has repeatedly threatened to punish networks and shows that aren’t beloved by President Trump, departed from the FCC’s longstanding approach by opening a proceeding that could force The View to comply with equal-time requirements. There is a July 6 deadline for comments, which can be filed at this FCC link. The docket with previous comments can be found here.

Carr’s attacks on ABC

Carr started taking action against The View after it aired an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, and the FCC issued a broad warning to all broadcast TV stations that late-night and daytime talk shows should not be used for “partisan political purposes.” Carr has not opened similar proceedings into the interview segments of talk radio shows, which are predominantly conservative.