ABC Sues The FCC For Massive First Amendment Violations

Free Speech

from the suddenly:-backbone dept

After years of feckless capitulation, ABC is clearly developing something vaguely resembling a backbone.

The company has filed a new lawsuit against Brendan Carr and the FCC (pdf), (correctly) claiming that the agency has been engaged in a coordinated campaign of harassment that violates the First Amendment and tramples the company’s free speech rights. The lawsuit asks a federal court to put an end to the harassment campaign the company says poses an “existential threat” to its operations.

“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” ABC/Disney wrote in its complaint.

As we’ve explored at length, the Trump FCC has been engaged in multiple overlapping manufactured investigations into the company for a variety of “offenses,” ranging from comedian Jimmy Kimmel making fun of the president’s wife, to the morning talk show The View hosting politicians that Trumpism is clearly worried could erode Republican control of the Senate.

In the latter case, the Carr FCC appears to have colluded with right-wing local broadcast companies to falsely make it appear that a local ABC affiliate violated dated FCC “equal opportunity” rules by hosting Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico last February. Carr used this to try and justify an unprecedented early review of ABC’s eight local affiliate broadcast licenses.

Carr has also engaged in various other phony investigations into ABC, including false claims that the company had violated dated FCC “news distortion” rules simply by reporting on the presidency. Carr and Trump also leveraged additional threats to ABC’s broadcast licenses after the network refused to air a recent Trump speech live.

According to ABC’s complaint, the review of ABC’s broadcast licenses for upsetting the thin-skinned president poses an existential threat to the company either way the wind blows.

“At one extreme, the Commission may intentionally prolong the adjudicative process, miring ABC in years of costly litigation, with the threat of adverse action ever present and with every editorial judgment shadowed by the prospect of provoking the Administration into further retaliation,” ABC’s lawyers wrote.

“At another extreme, the Commission may use the hearing to deny license renewal or immediately revoke the Stations’ licenses, forcing Plaintiffs off the air entirely, as the president has repeatedly demanded,” the complaint said. “In either scenario, the Administration accomplishes its goal of eliminating a perceived media critic.”

Carr has a real dead dog of a case here, which would explain why ABC had been sending signals for weeks that they intend to fight this (as opposed to that time they paid the president a $15 million bribe to settle a baseless lawsuit). In addition to recent filings calling out Carr for manufacturing a fake legal scandal, ABC recently ran ad spots calling on its viewers to file complaints with the FCC.

Carr never really wanted a legal showdown with deep-pocketed Disney over this turd of a case. He was just hoping to make life so costly and annoying for ABC/Disney that the company not only fired Jimmy Kimmel, but thought twice about supporting any journalist, satirist, or comedian who dares challenge the administration.

As ABC correctly notes in its complaint that the harassment campaign serves as a very unsubtle threat not just to ABC — but to other media companies that platform voices (be they journalists or comedians) critical of the increasingly unpopular president.

“The consequences of the Administration’s campaign against free speech reach well beyond ABC,” the ABC/Disney complaint notes. “If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free.”

As the president’s health, polling, and political power more quickly start to weaken, you’re beginning to see even traditionally feckless U.S. media giants start to show signs of courage (overseas media giants like the BBC are also starting to stand up for themselves). With any luck, that’s a harbinger of additional opposition to come.

Filed Under: brendan carr, censorship, comedy, fcc, first amendment, free speech, harassment, journalism, media
Companies: abc, disney