Conservative Commentators Have a Stake in Defending ABC’s ‘The View’ From the FCC’s Chilling Hand

ABC is pushing back on the Federal Communications Commission “escalating scrutiny” of “The View.” Although the show is left-wing, the smart move for conservatives would be to defend it from scrutiny. The alternative is returning to the days of political talk shows silencing themselves to avoid offending Washington’s shifting political preferences. On March 28, the FCC Media Bureau required seven ABC TV affiliates owned by Disney to reapply for their broadcast licenses. Such renewals are routine, but this one comes years earlier than expected as “The View” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” criticize the Trump Administration.The FCC seeks to determine whether “The View” violates the federal government’s equal time rule. “Bona fide news” programs are spared from that requirement. Yet the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, questions whether late-night and daytime and late-night talk shows meet that definition under the Communications Act of 1934.On Friday, ABC released its Petition for Declaratory Ruling, making its case to the FCC. “The Commission’s actions,” the 52-page response said, “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to ‘The View’ and more broadly.”The Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, at New York, September 22, 2025. AP/Andres KudackiThe late journalist Barbara Walters created “The View” in 1997 to showcase women of different perspectives hashing out issues with “humor” and “intelligent debate.” Detractors may find the show lacks both those qualities. The mission statement, though, is in line with the First Amendment, and no FCC regulation supersedes it.The idea of government taking a bigger role in broadcasting ought to send shivers down the spines of conservative commentators. ABC noted that the FCC has “declined to scrutinize … avowedly partisan talk radio” and “apply a similar interpretation of the equal opportunities rule to” conservative shows. But that won’t be the case forever.In September on a podcast, “Verdict With Ted Cruz,” the Texas senator called Mr. Carr’s threats to cancel ABC’s license over Mr. Kimmel’s remarks “dangerous as hell.” He warned that “if the government gets in the business of saying” they’ll yank the licenses of speakers they don’t like, it “will end up bad for conservatives.”Mr. Cruz said that “the next Democrat FCC … will silence us. They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly … to silence every conservative in America. We will regret it.” Conservative commentators who grew up in the age of talk radio may not recall that America has tried this path before and ended up with fewer outlets for political conversations.Senator Cruz at Washington, D.C. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesBefore President Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, broadcasters avoided issues-based programming to steer clear of the FCC, which rendered the AM band obsolete. This columnist’s former host, Rush Limbaugh, is credited with revitalizing AM radio, taking a few hours of time on several stations and building it into a whole new industry.Liberal commentators, Alan Colmes among them, chafed at working under those restrictive rules, too, and opposed efforts to reassert government control. The chilling effect was real. The talk landscape as it exists today would be impossible under the status quo before Reagan — an early radio broadcaster himself — opened up the airwaves to all.When Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed to revive the Fairness Doctrine in 2008, Limbaugh reckoned that unlike an “equal time” provision, it would allow people to call “every one of my 600-plus radio stations” and demand to respond. To avoid that “logistical nightmare,” program directors would “kill the format” and “play Chinese opera or whatever” instead.Limbaugh often said that he was in “the free speech business” and traveled to be a guest on TV pilots pitched by “The View” host, Josephine “Joy” Behar, a liberal. Dissenting voices and conflict aren’t just better for America. They’re better for political talk which, at its best, seeks to hash out issues to find the best path to building a more perfect union.“The danger,” ABC said in its petition, “is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed.” Better to avoid that end-run around the Constitution and let heated debates rage — un-chilled by the cold, fickle fingers of Washington’s political whims.

Conservative Commentators Have a Stake in Defending ABC’s ‘The View’ From the FCC’s Chilling Hand

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