FCC Chairman Brendan Carr continued to threaten regulatory scrutiny of broadcast networks over their content on Thursday, this time taking on ABC’s The View.
In the aftermath of ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel, Carr went on Scott Jennings’ podcast. Jennings asked him about other shows on the network Carr would like to scrutinize.
This time, Carr cited the FCC’s equal opportunity, or equal time rule, and whether The View is really exempt from it.
The equal time rule requires that broadcasters who feature a qualified political candidate on their airwaves must give time to their rivals upon request. Newscasts, interview programs, certain documentaries and news event coverage are exempt, per the FCC.
“The FCC does have a rule, called the equal opportunity rule, which means … in the run up to an election if you have one partisan election official on, you have to give equal time, equal opportunity to the opposing partisan politician,” Carr said on the podcast. “But there’s an exception to that rule called the ‘bona fide news exception,’ which means if you are a bonafide news program, you don’t have abide by the equal opportunity rule. And over the years the FCC has developed a body of case law that has suggested that mostly late-night shows, not SNL, are bonafide news programs. And so potentially I would assume you could make the argument that The View is a bona fide news program. But I am not so sure about that, and I think it is worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether The View and some of these other programs that you have still qualify as bonafide news programs.”
Were the FCC to deem The View as not exempt from the equal time rule, it would likely face a court challenge, and it also would likely cast doubt on the exemption for talk shows generally. The equal time rule also applies to radio, so ending the exemption for talk shows would stand to also impact conservative talk radio shows who feature candidates.
One show that has not been exempt is Saturday Night Live, and Carr called out the show for featuring Kamala Harris in a cameo just days before the election. But NBC offered Donald Trump airtime the next day during its sports programming.
Trump’s hosting gig on SNL in 2015 also triggered the equal time rule, and NBC stations were on the hook when some of his rival candidates requested airtime.
The View, which is part of the ABC News division, has been criticized on the right for its lineup of co-hosts and guests. The show has featured conservative figures, including Donald Trump Jr. during his father’s first term, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) during the 2024 cycle. Trump appeared on the show before he ran for office. Executive Producer Brian Teta said in an interview with Deadline in April of last year, “We’ve invited Trump to join us at the table for both 2016 and 2020 elections, and he declined, and at a certain point, we stopped asking. So I don’t anticipate that changing.”
The FCC no longer has a Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to provide differing viewpoints in the coverage of issues of major public concern. The rule was abandoned in 1987.
The post Brendan Carr Targets ‘The View’ As FCC Chairman Continues Regulatory Threats In Aftermath Of Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension appeared first on Deadline.
