The FCC's order forcing ABC to file early license renewals for its eight owned stations by May 28 is government retaliation, plain and simple. This action came one day after Trump demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel for a joke about Melania Trump. You need to publicly condemn this abuse of regulatory power and demand FCC Chair Brendan Carr rescind the order immediately.
The FCC hasn't deployed this weapon against a major broadcaster in decades. The agency claims this is about investigating Disney's DEI initiatives, but the timing exposes the real motive: punishing ABC for protected speech. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez called it "the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date." She's right. The White House called for silencing a critic, and the FCC answered.
Broadcast licenses cannot be used as weapons to intimidate networks into compliance with presidential demands. The First Amendment doesn't have an exception for jokes that offend the president. If Congress allows the FCC to function as Trump's enforcement arm, no broadcaster is safe from this kind of political extortion. Speak out now before this becomes the new normal.
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