FCC to Investigate ABC’s ‘The View’ Over Interview With Texas Democratic Candidate for US Senate

The Federal Communications Commission plans to investigate whether ABC’s “The View” violated the agency’s equal-time rule after Democratic Texas State Representative James Talarico appeared on the daytime talk show, according to Reuters.

Talarico is running for his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate in a state no Democrat has won since 1994. His appearance comes after his primary challenger, Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett, appeared on “The View” in January.

Representatives for the FCC did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment, while ABC and “The View” declined to comment.

Under the Communications Act of 1934, Congress put protections in place
to ensure equal access to broadcast station facilities for legally qualified candidates for office, regardless of political affiliation. The rule covers individuals who have publicly announced their intention to run for office and qualify under applicable state or federal law to hold the office being sought.

In 2006, the FCC determined that “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” qualified for an exemption from the rule as a “bona fide news interview” — the first time that such an exemption had been applied to a late night talk show. But in January, the FCC issued new guidance that late night and daytime talk shows would not qualify for the bona fide news exemption.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr previously threatened to look into “The View” for potential violations of the equal time rule back in September.

“I would assume you can make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that,” Carr said Thursday. “I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”

In October, the hosts of “The View” have previously said that they want more Republican guests on the show but that the invites have been turned down, citing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as one example. The group also said they would love to have Ted Cruz on again (his 2022 appearance was interrupted by protestors) and that Chris Christie has regularly come on the show.

“The View” also had Marjorie Taylor Greene appear in January, which resulted in a major ratings boost.

In addition to “The View,” Carr has previously criticized ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who was temporarily suspended for remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination after he threatened to take action against the late night program, prompting bipartisan criticism.

Kimmel, who has since been restored on ABC’s airwaves, told his audience “I might need your help again” after learning of the FCC’s new guidance.

“This isn’t the ’50s anymore … Back then there were only three major networks. Now we’ve got cable, we’ve got streaming, we have satellite, podcasts, social media. There are thousands of outlets now. Broadcast TV used to account for 100 percent of viewing. Now, it’s like 20 percent,” Kimmel explained. “There are so many channels, some of them doing 24/7 Trump programming: Fox News, Newsmax, One America New, Real America’s Voice. None of them are required to give equal time, but we are because we use the public airways.”

In response to Kimmel, Carr said it’s ultimately up to Congress to decide whether the rule should be expanded to other forms of distribution.

“If you don’t want to comply with the public interest standard with your programming now, you have so many other ways of getting it out there, whether it’s a podcast, a cable channel, a streaming service,” Carr continued. “If you want the unique privilege of distributing over this one type of thing, broadcast TV, then we should really make sure that you’re actually complying with the rules of that distribution mechanism.”

He added that the statutory history of the bona fide news exemption is clear that Congress was “worried that TV programmers would broadly take advantage of trying to claim they were bona fide news when they weren’t.”

“But if you’re fake news, you’re not going to qualify for the bona fide news exception,” Carr said.

Democrat FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said an investigation into “The View” is “government intimidation, not a legitimate investigation.”

“Like many other so-called ‘investigations’ before it, the FCC will announce
an investigation but never carry one out, reach a conclusion, or take any meaningful action,” she said. “The real purpose is to weaponize the FCC’s regulatory authority to intimidate perceived critics of this Administration and chill protected speech. That is not how a free society operates.”

“The First Amendment protects the right of daytime and late-night programs to cover newsworthy issues and express viewpoints without government interference,” she continued. “I urge broadcasters and their parent networks to stand strong against these unfounded attacks and continue exercising their constitutional rights without fear or favor.”

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