The Federal Communications Commission’s probe into whether the daytime talk show “The View” deserves an “bona fide news” exemption from equal time rules governing the appearance of political candidates on broadcast TV has produced an unprecedented 77,611 comments filed with the FCC as of 1 p.m. ET on July 7.
The deadline for comments was Monday July 6. As previously reported the number of comments in the controversial probe exploded after ABC began airing ads on June 22 urging viewers to file comments with the FCC.
The number of comments jumped to nearly 28,000 on June 23 and continued its exponential growth, topping 77,000 when the comment period ended two weeks later.
The ad can be viewed here.
The case stems from a wider policy by the agency to enforce public interest rules on broadcasters deemed to be airing biased news coverage. That enforcement push has produced ongoing investigations by the FCC into coverage of President Trump by stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC.
Separately, the Media Bureau issued an advisory in January casting doubt on the 20-year-old exemption classifying late-night programming and talk shows as news programs, which means that they are not subject to equal time rules. The advisory said that stations airing `partisan' talk shows and late night programs must comply with equal time rules.
The FCC is also investigating Disney’s ABC for its DEI practices and has also ordered the ABC- owned stations to file for early renewal of their licenses. ABC blasted the early renewal demand as “unconstitutional retaliation” for news coverage that has been critical of the Trump administration.
A number of conservative groups have filed comments arguing that “The View” is biased and should lose the exemption while progressive public interest groups have generally been critical of the FCC’s probe.
Black Women’s Roundtable and National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, for example, said in its comments that "The View" continues to satisfy the same standards as it did in the FCC’s 2002 ruling and that reopening the issue could chill constitutionally protected journalism and disproportionately harm Black audiences.
“While previous Administrations abided by the Communications Act’s prohibition of government censorship of broadcasters, it is abundantly clear that the current Administration has chosen to ignore this provision in its mission to silence the broadcast voices of those with whom it does not agree– and is using the Commission to facilitate this censorship by imposing undue regulatory burdens such as legal requests and investigations of broadcasters,” the group said.
In its comments, Freedom of the Press Foundation argued that because the FCC previously determined that The View is a “bona fide” news program and since nothing has changed about the show, it still is a news program. “Beyond this matter, revoking the bona fide news exemption from `The View’ in these circumstances will open the door for future retaliation, dangling of exemptions, and threats of costly administrative proceedings by the FCC, to encourage capitulation to an administration’s demands for more favorable news coverage or otherwise attempt to shape constitutionally protected speech and editorial decisions.”
More comments from the ACLA, Free Press and others are covered in our earlier story on the issue here.
