Last April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it was reviewing the broadcast licenses held by ABC's eight network-owned TV stations years before they were scheduled for renewal.
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they → announce → renewal
The FCC had not conducted an early review of any broadcast license in more than half a century, and it had never done so simultaneously for all the stations operated by a particular network.
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it → conduct → network
That unprecedented action, ABC and its parent company, Disney, argue in a federal lawsuit filed last week, is part of an unconstitutional intimidation campaign that has already had a chilling impact on broadcast journalism.
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that → argue → journalism
A bipartisan group of former FCC officials, including commissioners appointed by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, agrees that the agency has launched "an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process" to "punish speech disfavored by the Trump administration."
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agency → include → administration
President Donald Trump has been threatening to yank the licenses of broadcasters who irk him since his first term.
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who → threaten → term
But this time around, the FCC's Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, seems eager to act on that vindictive impulse.
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chairman → appoint → impulse
Carr portrays the ABC review as a response to "diversity, equity, and inclusion" programs that may qualify as "unlawful discrimination."
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that → portray → discrimination
But he has made it clear that the FCC also is considering the broader question of whether ABC's stations are serving "the public interest," a vague statutory mandate that he views as a license to override freedom of the press.
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he → make → press
The president's beef with ABC includes news coverage he views as overwhelmingly negative, its fact-checking during a 2024 presidential debate, anti-Trump commentary on shows such as The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and the network's refusal to air his July 16 primetime speech, which followed a long line of similar calls by TV networks under prior administrations.
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which → include → administrations
Carr, who routinely amplifies such complaints, agrees that they demand the FCC's attention.
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they → amplify → attention
Shortly after taking office, Carr reopened an FCC investigation of ABC's allegedly biased debate moderation.
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Carr → take → moderation
Last September, Carr threatened ABC stations with fines or license revocation if they failed to punish Kimmel for suggesting that conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassin was a Trump supporter.
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assassin → threaten → Kimmel
Carr, who announced the early review of ABC's licenses the day after Trump and his wife objected to a joke Kimmel had made on his show, says the network's decision against broadcasting Trump's speech will figure in that process, which could drag on for years.
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which → announce → years
Carr also has threatened to rescind The View's longstanding "bona fide news exemption" from the FCC's "equal time" rule, which in practice would amount to a ban on interviews with political candidates.
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which → threaten → candidates
Such regulatory threats have an observable impact.
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threats → have → impact
ABC and its affiliates immediately met Carr's demands by suspending Kimmel's show for a week last fall, The View has stopped interviewing political candidates, and ABC says it carried Trump's whole speech on its streaming channel only because it was worried about antagonizing the FCC.
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it → meet → FCC
The effects extend beyond ABC.
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effects → extend → ABC
Once TV networks understand that the FCC's objections to their reporting or editorial judgments can pose an existential threat to the stations they operate, they are apt to think twice before making decisions that might upset the president.
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that → understand → president
"Through this proceeding," the former FCC officials say, the commission "seeks to censor Disney's and ABC's speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don't like at your peril."
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we → say → peril
Carr, an avowed First Amendment champion, improbably claims he is trying to "re-empower local TV stations" by "reminding them" about their "unique public interest obligations."
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he → claim → obligations
It is hard to see how threatening to put broadcasters out of business empowers them to do anything but kowtow to the president.
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them → see → president
"It's not our role to be the speech police," Carr told Politico last month.
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Carr → tell → Politico
Yet Carr, who brags that Trump is "winning" his fight against "the fake news media," clearly sees himself as a warrior in that battle, which conflates "the public interest" with the president's personal grievances.
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which → brag → grievances
The Aporia
