{"id":599821,"date":"2026-05-23T13:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599821\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T13:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:16:12","slug":"trumps-fcc-chair-wants-the-public-to-weigh-in-on-whether-the-view-is-exempt-from-equal-time-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599821\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s FCC chair wants the public to weigh in on whether \u2018The View\u2019 is exempt from \u2018equal time rule\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr<\/a> has asked the public to weigh in on whether The View is exempt from the so-called equal time rule<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs The View a \u2018bona fide news interview program\u2019?\u201d Carr asked<\/a> on X Friday, referring to an exemption to the long-established \u201cequal time rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Disney-owned ABC filed a petition arguing that The View<\/a>, a daytime talk show hosted by the likes of Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, was a \u201cbona fide news interview program.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, the FCC has opened the debate by seeking public comment, where everyday Americans, industry groups or others with an interest in the matter can express their opinions. <\/p>\n

\"FederalFederal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has asked the public to weigh in on whether The View is exempt from the so-called equal time rule (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Independent has reached out to Disney and ABC for comment. <\/p>\n

The \u201cequal time rule\u201d requires broadcast TV to allow all legitimate political candidates the same opportunities. <\/p>\n

If a program has a Democratic candidate in a race on a primetime segment for a 15-minute interview, they must invite their Republican counterpart on for a similar slot. <\/p>\n

The \u201cbona fide\u201d exemption allows broadcasters to have a political candidate on air, without giving the same opportunity to their opponents, if they are chosen \u201con their newsworthiness rather than on the intention to oppose or support a particular candidate,\u201d the FCC explained in a notice<\/a> about the public comment issued Friday. <\/p>\n

The FCC announced in February that it had launched an investigation into The View<\/a>, after the talk show interviewed James Talarico<\/a>, a Texas candidate for the Senate who went on to win the Democratic primary election<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"ABCABC has argued that its daytime talk show is exempt from federal regulations requiring broadcast TV to give political candidates equal opportunities (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cDisney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news,\u201d Carr told Fox News\u2019 Laura Ingraham at the time. \u201cWe\u2019ve started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a separate note, the FCC told ABC late last month that it must apply to renew its broadcast licenses <\/a>by Thursday, despite it not being up for renewal for a couple of years. <\/p>\n

The move came after ABC late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel joked about first lady Melania Trump<\/a> having the glow of an \u201cexpectant widow.\u201d But the FCC has suggested that the early renewal was related to an investigation into the company\u2019s DEI practices. <\/p>\n

Carr, who President Donald Trump <\/a>appointed to lead the FCC, has gone after Kimmel and fellow comedian Stephen Colbert<\/a>, both critics of the president<\/a>, for what they have said on air. <\/p>\n

\"Carr,Carr, who Donald Trump appointed to lead the FCC, has gone after comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, both critics of the president, for what they have said on air (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

ABC briefly suspended Kimmel\u2019s late night show<\/a> in September after Carr threatened to discipline the comedian over comments he made in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, when you see stuff like this, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr said at the time. \u201cThese companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert, who hosted the finale<\/a> of the Late Show Thursday night after CBS decided to cancel it for what critics speculated were political reasons<\/a>, had claimed in February that the network banned him for broadcasting an interview with Democrat Talarico. CBS had denied Colbert\u2019s narrative of the events.<\/p>\n

“CBS was very clear that Colbert could run the interview that he wanted with that political candidate,\u201d Carr told Fox News\u2019 Ingraham at the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey just said, \u2018you may have to comply with equal time,\u2019 which would have meant potentially giving air time to Jasmine Crockett and another candidate. But instead of doing that, they claimed that they were victims,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-599821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}