ABC files legal challenge against FCC, accusing agency of violating its First Amendment rights
OAN Staff Jenna Lee
3:31 PM – Friday, May 8, 2026
ABC News has formally accused the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of violating its First Amendment rights in an announced legal filing, asserting that the federal government’s recent regulatory actions are creating a “chilling effect” on free speech.
This legal challenge follows an announcement by the FCC in February this year that it was opening an investigation into the Disney-owned network’s long-running daytime talk show, “The View.”
The agency is seeking to determine whether the program violated “equal time” rules after an appearance by James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas.
In its response, ABC argues that the investigation is a radical departure from established precedent, as “The View” has been classified under the “bona fide news interview” exemption since 2002.
By challenging this status, ABC contends the FCC is using technical regulations as a pretext to exert control over editorial content and punish the network for its political discourse.
The network also argues that subjecting a news-adjacent program to such scrutiny undermines the constitutional protections afforded to broadcasters and serves as a warning to other media outlets to avoid controversial political guests.
“The FCC has an enforcement action underway on that,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Additionally, ABC declared that the talk show runs under an equal-time rule exemption “granted to it more than twenty years ago.” The talk show received an exemption for the equal time rule in 2002, but at the end of March, the FCC had the network’s Houston station, KTRK-TV, file a new request to the FCC regarding the show’s qualification as a “bona fide news interview program,” added ABC’s filing.
Meanwhile, the FCC has also been conducting separate investigations on ABC and Disney over discriminatory corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
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