Brendan Carr's 'Equal Time' Threat Against The View Is Blatantly Unconstitutional, ABC Says |
First Amendment
Brendan Carr's 'Equal Time' Threat Against The View Is Blatantly Unconstitutional, ABC Says
The FCC chairman seems determined to impose a requirement that would amount to a ban on interviews with political candidates.
Jacob Sullum | 5.11.2026 4:30 PM
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(FCC/The View/YouTube)
President Donald Trump is not a fan of The View, an ABC talk show whose panelists frequently criticize him. Neither is Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who has suggested that the show could face regulatory consequences because of its political bias. Specifically, Carr is threatening to revoke The View's exemption from the "equal time" rule, which in practice would amount to a ban on interviews with candidates for public office.
That threat, ABC argues in an FCC petition filed on Friday, is blatantly inconsistent with the First Amendment, which protects the editorial discretion of news and opinion outlets. Notably, ABC is represented by Paul Clement, a veteran Supreme Court litigator who served as solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration. Clement says the "equal time" rule itself "raises profound First Amendment concerns," a problem that will be aggravated if the FCC reverses its longstanding policy of exempting talk shows like The View.
Under 47 USC 315, a TV or radio station that gives airtime to "a legally qualified candidate for any public office" must "afford equal opportunities" to all other candidates for that office. Universal application of that requirement would have a crippling impact on news coverage. If a station aired an interview with one of the leading candidates for California governor, for example, it would also have to accommodate the 60 other candidates on the ballot.
Congress recognized the chilling impact of that situation in 1959, when it added a "bona fide news exemption" to Section 315. Under current law, the "equal time" rule does not apply to a "bona fide newscast," a "bona fide news interview," a "bona fide news documentary" (provided the candidate's appearance is "incidental" to coverage of other subjects), or "on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events" such as political conventions.
Since 1984, when the FCC granted a "bona fide news interview" exemption to Phil Donahue's daytime talk show, it has given similar leeway to a wide range of programs, including Geraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael, Later With Bob Costas, The Jerry Springer Show, The Howard Stern Show, and The Tonight Show. In 2002, the FCC added The View to that list based on the three-part test it has been applying for decades, which allows an exemption for any "regularly scheduled" show when its content is controlled by its producers and their decisions are based on judgments of newsworthiness.
Carr wants to change that test. "For years," he complained on X in January, "legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as 'bona fide news' programs—even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes. Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all........