ABC ‘fighting back’, urging US public to defend stations amid FCC scrutiny

Disney-owned ABC and United States President Donald Trump are once again at odds, as the network has launched an on-air campaign urging viewers to support its local stations amid mounting pressure from the White House, a move applauded by press freedom advocates.

As part of the campaign, local stations, including New York’s WABC — the network’s largest owned-and-operated station — have encouraged viewers to voice their concerns during a public comment period that ends on July 29. Other stations, including Houston’s KTRK, have posted similar calls to action on their websites.

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That comes on the heels of a move in April when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered ABC to file early licence renewals for its eight local television stations. In addition to Houston and New York, the affected stations serve markets including San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The FCC uses licence renewals to determine whether stations have served the public interest. Free speech advocates argue the agency’s move is designed to appease Trump by targeting a perceived political adversary.

“[FCC Chairman Brenden] Carr’s open support of Trump’s efforts to reshape and silence ABC taints any claim by his FCC to be calling balls and strikes when investigating ABC or its programming,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera in written remarks.

“No matter what pretexts the FCC cites, anyone with a smidgen of common sense knows exactly what is going on – an FCC led by a man who has publicly disclaimed independence from Trump is using its authority both frivolously and selectively to do Trump’s bidding.”

In May, dissenting FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez sent a letter to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro warning about what she described as “the weaponization of the FCC’s authority as a federal regulator”.

“Using the licences of individual local stations as leverage against a parent company is an extraordinary and dangerous misapplication of this agency’s authority,” Gomez wrote.

Gomez did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

As Gomez noted in her letter, many of the stations in question are not scheduled for review for another five years. Last month, ABC argued that the administration’s actions violate the network’s First Amendment rights.

“It’s great to see ABC fighting back against these abuses of power. It is clearer than ever that capitulating to Trump earns nothing but inviting more attacks,” Stern said.

The campaign comes amid escalating pressure from Trump, who recently used his social media platform, Truth Social, to criticise ABC News over its coverage of renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and allegations of vandalism.

On June 18, ABC News Chief Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl highlighted blue paint peeling from the bottom of the Reflecting Pool during a report. ABC’s coverage noted that the president had not provided evidence to support claims of vandalism.

“In describing the vandalism that took place at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., ABC FAKE NEWS, one of the worst in the business, even paying me $16,000,000 for past bad and inaccurate reporting, failed to report that their close ‘friends,’ Dumocrats Obama and Biden, spent over 100 Million Dollars on the Reflecting Pool, and it never worked,” Trump wrote, referencing ABC’s settlement of his defamation lawsuit over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos regarding E Jean Carroll.

Trump also intensified his criticism of the network, suggesting he was preparing another lawsuit over its coverage and writing, “I like their money.”

Mounting pressure

The administration has long kept ABC in its crosshairs. The network briefly yielded to pressure from the administration by removing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following comments he made after the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. ABC later reinstated him.

In February, the FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show The View over allegations that the programme may have violated federal equal-time requirements, which require broadcast stations to provide equal opportunities to political candidates.

Gomez argued in her letter that the FCC has selectively enforced those rules.

“This FCC has trained its enforcement apparatus on ABC while staying conspicuously silent about other broadcasters operating under the exact same rules, in the same markets, that aired interviews with political candidates without filing notices and received no inquiry, no letter, and no investigation whatsoever,” Gomez said.

Carr also opened an investigation in March 2025 into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)practices and warned that the FCC could revoke broadcast licences.

Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to cancel comedy and news programmes he dislikes or that have criticised him, while pressing regulators to revoke the licences of broadcasters he considers unfair.

Carr addressed the Disney investigation, saying, “If Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination, if it failed to operate broadcast stations in the public interest, it will be held accountable,” in a post on the social media platform X last month.

Carr’s remarks came as the FCC approved a merger between major local television station operators TEGNA and Nexstar. Critics have accused Nexstar’s programming, particularly on its cable network NewsNation, of shifting rightward to appease the president. Nexstar’s CEO has said the company continues to maintain a DEI philosophy as the industry newsletter, The Desk, first reported.

ABC did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.