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More than 150,000 comments were submitted to the federal government in ABC11 and other television stations owned by The Walt Disney Co.’s fight with the federal government.
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The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates radio and television stations, ordered the eight ABC-owned stations, including ABC11 WTVD, to file early license renewals earlier this year.
“The outpouring of support for the stations has been unprecedented for a license renewal proceeding,” according got ABC’s July 29 filing. “Over 140,000 comments have been received from the Stations’ local communities – from individual viewers to local police and firefighters, charities, businesses and schools – and over 95% support the stations.”
The number of comments has risen to more than 150,000.
Some of those comments include local state legislators, nonprofits and community organizations, including:
In June, ABC and the stations began a public campaign asking viewers to tell the FCC to keep the stations on the air, The News & Observer previously reported. ABC11 is The N&O’s newsgathering partner.
The federal government began investigating ABC related to its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, but the timing raised questions from First Amendment experts.
That early renewal came shortly after the Trump administration called on ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who joked about the first lady during a parody skit.
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The FCC’s investigation of “The View” occurred after it featured James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas for potentially violating equal-time rules.
Those rules are meant to require non-news programs to give comparable air-time opportunities for political rivals, but, previously, late-night and daytime talk shows have been classified as bona fide news during interview segments.
In the Wednesday filing, ABC said these “unprecedented proceedings” were meant to create a “media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely.”
“Until the day before the Commission took this step, it had not called for license renewal applications ahead of schedule for more than 50 years,” according to the filing. “Nor has it ever demanded simultaneous renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a single broadcast network, much less one with undisputed, distinguished records of serving the public interest.”
“The Commission’s departure from those norms lays bare what is really going on: the Administration is retaliating against ABC for the exercise of its First Amendment rights,” the filing continued.
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