ABC says Trump FCC threat over The View chills free speech

ABC is pressing the Federal Communications Commission to leave The View alone, warning that the agency’s scrutiny could chill protected speech “both with respect to The View and more broadly.” In a 52-page petition filed by ABC and its Houston affiliate, the network said the dispute should not become a vehicle for punishing viewpoints that regulators or politicians dislike.

The fight centers on the FCC’s equal opportunities rule, often called the equal-time rule. Under that law, when a broadcaster gives airtime to a legally qualified political candidate, it must offer comparable time and placement to opposing candidates who request it. Congress carved out narrow exemptions in 1959 for bona fide news broadcasts and interviews, and the FCC has long used declaratory rulings to decide whether a show qualifies for that protection.

ABC says The View received such an exemption in 2002 and that the ruling went undisturbed for more than two decades. The current dispute stems from James Talarico’s Feb. 2 appearance on the show, which ABC says prompted the FCC to reopen the question. At the end of March, the agency required KTRK-TV, ABC’s owned station in Houston, Texas, to file a new request on whether The View still counts as a bona fide news interview program. The FCC Media Bureau had already issued guidance on Jan. 21 warning that late-night and daytime talk shows airing covered programming motivated by partisan purposes must comply with the equal-opportunities requirement.

ABC argues that the agency is not applying the rule evenly. The filing says the FCC has not subjected conservative and liberal radio broadcasters to the same scrutiny, and it points to Sean Hannity’s radio show and a December 2025 interview with Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton. That disparity, ABC contends, raises the risk of retaliatory enforcement through regulatory process rather than open political disagreement.

FCC officials have said the equal-time law is meant to encourage more speech and let voters decide elections. The issue now stretches well beyond ABC, The View, and Joy Behar’s panel. It tests how far a presidential administration can push regulatory pressure on broadcast speech without issuing a formal censorship order, and it underscores a basic boundary in federal law: the equal-time rule reaches broadcast TV and radio, but not cable, satellite, or streaming in the same way.