Would the FCC really shut down ABC over Kimmel’s tasteless Trump joke?

Media executives and progressive politicians are aghast at the recent Federal Communications Commission decision to scrutinize the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned television stations.  

Late last month, the FCC ordered ABC’s eight stations to file broadcast license renewal applications ahead of the normal schedule. The order outlines a concern about whether the stations are meeting their “public interest obligations.” Technically, all radio and television broadcast outlets must serve the “public interest, convenience and necessity,” as determined by the FCC and allowed by Congress in the Communications Act of 1934.

Indeed, this action is highly unusual — much more than the “raised eyebrow” approach to broadcast regulation normally implemented by the FCC. The public interest standard has been vague from its inception and loosely enforced or even generally ignored over the years. That the current FCC would engage in such pressure tactics against the Disney empire that owns ABC has shocked and outraged the corporate media world. 

There was a time, however, when an FCC chairman went well beyond threatening a relative few television stations for neglecting their public interest responsibilities.  

Rewind to 1961, when John Kennedy’s FCC chairman threatened the licenses of every television licensee in the nation. Newton Minow addressed the National Association of Broadcasters that year. He promised the media executives assembled that he would make their jobs difficult, warning, “If you want to stay on as [licensed broadcasters], you must deliver a decent return........

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