ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The nation's chief broadcast regulator has made clear he intends to use the powers of his agency to advance President Trump's agenda and go after media companies. Most recently, Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has questioned whether The Walt Disney Company is fit to own its eight local ABC TV stations. Disney is pushing back forcefully on free speech grounds. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik joins us now. Hi, David.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Hey, Elissa.
NADWORNY: Can you tell us more about how Disney is pushing back?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, it's spelled out in an extensive legal filing on behalf of a single one of its eight stations in Houston. It's led by Paul Clement. To be clear, to underscore how seriously ABC and its parent company Disney is taking this, that's the former solicitor general under President George W. Bush - an experienced hand at Supreme Court arguments - leading this essentially bureaucratic filing with the Federal Communications Commission. They're arguing in this filing that the FCC's actions - and this is a direct quote - "threatens to limit news coverage of political candidates and chill core First Amendment-protected speech for years and potentially decades to come."
NADWORNY: Chilling speech. I mean, in Disney's legal filing, how did they kind of clarify that to the FCC?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, look, this all, of course, happens against the backdrop of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr going after Jimmy Kimmel for remarks he's made - a frequent critic of the president late night - and also investigations of DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - at ABC. In this case, this is a very specific investigation of whether the appearance of a Texas Democrat, James Talarico, on the ABC talk show "The View" violates equal time protections. "The View" says, look, we operate like a news program, and we've had that judgment from the FCC for over 20 years. That's an exception to equal time. That is, every single candidate during a political race gets equal time. News broadcasters get an exception to that because they're allowed discretion - editorial judgment under the First Amendment. The FCC is seeking a new interpretation of these rules, you know, and in this filing, Disney's even referring to Republicans like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who warns that the agency's going too far against speech it doesn't like and argues that the same could happen in future years under Democrats.
NADWORNY: President Trump and his administration have frequently attacked the media. So I guess I'm wondering, what is noticeable or what is notable about Disney's response here?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, President Trump had sued Disney over remarks by ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos before his inauguration last year. This was considered by most legal observers that I interviewed frivolous, but Disney wanted peace to get things through. Paid him $15 million, another million dollars for legal costs. Other news organizations had been seen by their owners to also bend to the will of the administration - Paramount Global at CBS, Washington Post. Jeff Bezos has changed his editorial pages as well. You know, it appears to be a signal by The Walt Disney Company's new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, that he won't stand by, that he's going to make a clear stand for the rights of broadcasters to operate, you know, in the media under the First Amendment.
NADWORNY: So where do things go from here?
FOLKENFLIK: So technically, what ABC and Disney are demanding is a full vote by the commission, which currently has only three members. It's 2-1 Republicans. To - they're seeking for that commission to reaffirm "The View's" right to operate under this understanding that it's acting as a news program, and indeed, it's under ABC News' division, even though some criticize it as listing to the liberal side. What Disney and ABC are signaling here is they're willing to take it to the courts. And among their arguments is that the regulations that Chairman Carr's relying on stretch back to decades before there was social media, the web and, you know, cable offerings that are sort of smothering us in points of view. And the idea that different points of view are not available, that equal time is not happening and not available to the listeners and the audience is laughable. I reached out to Chairman Carr in a variety of ways for comment and haven't heard back.
NADWORNY: That's NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, thank you so much.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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