If it’s happening to Disney, could it happen to anyone with a broadcast license? That’s the question reverberating across the broadcast industry as Washington reacts to an FCC action raising First Amendment concerns from the halls of Capitol Hill to the NAB.
On Tuesday, the FCC ordered The Walt Disney Company to file license renewals for all of its ABC Owned Stations within 30 days, giving the company until May 28 to comply. The order was issued on delegated authority by Video Division Chief David Brown and cites an investigation into DEI policies, which Chairman Brendan Carr launched a battle against upon taking the Commission’s top spot last year.
Carr had previously said the FCC could block license transfers and other transactions if companies maintain what he described as “invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
However, the action is more widely believed to be connected to statements made on-air by ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting that were found unfavorable by the Trump administration.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the Commission, called it “the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date” and characterized it as a politically motivated attempt to silence a vocal critic of the administration.
The move again put Carr on the wrong side of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who told Punchbowl News, “It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police.” The comments mirror a similar standoff between the Senator and the Chairman in September.
NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt stated, “The FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency. The Media Bureau’s nearly unprecedented request for one company to quickly reapply for all of its licenses — rather than utilize its traditional enforcement process — runs contrary to these principles and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”
