ABC ‘fights back’, urges US public to protect stations as FCC investigates | Media News

ABC-owned Disney and US President Donald Trump are also at odds, with the network launching a campaign to encourage viewers to support local stations amid pressure from the White House, a move praised by press freedom activists.

As part of the development, local stations, including New York’s WABC – a major online network – 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 on their websites.

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This comes after a move in April when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered ABC to renew the licenses for eight of its television stations. In addition to Houston and New York, the affected stations serve markets including San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The FCC uses license renewals to determine whether stations serve the public. Free speech activists criticize the agency’s move to appease Trump by targeting a perceived political enemy.

“(FCC Chairman Brenden) Carr is publicly supporting Trump’s efforts to reform and prevent ABC from challenging the FCC’s allegations that it is calling for balls and strikes by investigating ABC or its programs,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera in a written statement.

“No matter what the FCC says, anyone with a shred of common sense knows what’s going on — an FCC led by someone who has publicly denied Trump’s independence is using its power recklessly and selectively to serve Trump’s interests.”

In May, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez sent a letter to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro to warn of what he described as “a tool of the FCC’s authority as a government regulator”.

“Using local station licenses as leverage against the parent company is an abuse of agency power,” Gomez wrote.

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

As Gomez said in his letter, most of the stations in question are not scheduled to review for another five years. Last month, ABC said the management’s actions violated the network’s First Amendment rights.

“It’s great to see ABC standing up to this abuse of power. It’s more obvious than ever that pandering to Trump will do nothing but invite more people,” Stern said.

The campaign comes amid intense pressure from Trump, who recently used his social media site, Truth Social, to criticize ABC News for its coverage of the restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and accusations of vandalism.

On June 18, ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl highlighted the blue paint peeling off the bottom of the Reflecting Pool during a report. ABC’s coverage indicated that the President did not provide evidence to support the allegations of property damage.

“When reporting on the damage that happened at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, ABC FAKE NEWS, one of the most difficult in the business, despite paying me $16,000,000 for a long and wrong story, did not say that their “friends”, Dumocrats Obama and Biden, spent more than 100, Trump, spent more than 100. about the settlement of ABC in the case of defamation on the comments that the anchor George Stephanopoulos said about It’s Jean Carroll.

Trump also escalated his criticism of the network, saying he was planning another lawsuit over his story and writing, “I love their money.”

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Management has been holding ABC back for a long time. The network gave a brief to pressure from management and removing late night host Jimmy Kimmel following comments he made after the Conservative’s death political activist Charlie Kirk. ABC later reinstated him.

In February, the FCC opened an investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show The View on grounds that the program may have violated equal time requirements, which require radio stations to provide equal access to political candidates.

Gomez argued in his letter that the FCC chose to enforce the rules.

“The FCC has trained its regulatory apparatus on ABC while it remains silent about other broadcasters operating under the same rules, in the same markets, who broadcast interviews with political candidates without written notices and without any inquiry, letter, or investigation,” said Gomez.

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

Trump has repeatedly urged advertisers to ban cartoons and news programs he dislikes or criticizes him, while pushing regulators to revoke the licenses of broadcasters he deems unfair.

Carr addressed the Disney investigation, saying, “If Disney engages in illegal discrimination against DEI, if it fails to operate radio stations in the public interest, they will be held accountable,” in a blog post last month.

Carr’s comments came as the FCC approved a merger between local television producers TEGNA and Nexstar. Critics accuse Nexstar of programming, particularly on its NewsNation network, of swinging to the right to appease the president. Nexstar’s CEO said the company continues to uphold the DEI philosophy as previously reported by the company’s newspaper, The Desk.

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