By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Ongoing threats by President Donald Trump against reporters and broadcast networks are grounds for a US judge to block the Federal Communications Commission from reviewing Disney’s eight ABC station licenses early, the company said on Thursday.
Disney and ABC said in a court filing that FCC Chair Brendan Carr has made clear he is carrying out Trump’s specific directives “aimed at curbing speech critical of the administration.”
The company added that Carr’s implementation of Trump’s directives was improper but makes sense since Trump deemed that if he is “insufficiently responsive to his directives, the president could fire the chairman at will.”
The White House and Carr did not immediately comment.
Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to drop comedy or news programs he dislikes or which have joked about or criticized him or his administration. He has also called on the FCC to strip stations of licenses after criticizing news and other programming.
Carr ordered the early reviews in April, even though the ABC stations’ license renewals were not scheduled to be considered before October 2028. The FCC had not ordered an early review in more than 50 years before April.
The reviews were ordered a day after Trump urged ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Disney cited threats Trump has made recently against journalists at NBC, including “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker and an ABC White House reporter on September 11 who asked about potential $5,000 stimulus checks, saying: “You’re the worst.”
Trump on August 30 said Welker would be reported to the FCC for “rebuke or punishment,” after she noted the Republican president’s success in endorsing political candidates has been mixed.
Disney noted that Carr warned after Trump’s threat that the commission could soon issue guidance to broadcast television networks over what he called “fake polls.”
Carr on Wednesday declined to answer if he planned to take action against Welker, even though legal experts say her comments were protected by the First Amendment, and did not say if he would issue polling guidance.
Disney said Carr is following Trump’s “retaliatory directives and using early license renewals to punish broadcasters for disfavored speech.”
Broadcast stations need FCC licenses to use public airwaves. While license revocations are extremely rare, critics say threats of losing a license can pressure broadcasters and raise concerns about government interference in programming decisions.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
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