A conservative media watchdog is urging the Federal Communications Commission not to renew ABC’s licenses, accusing the broadcaster of partisan bias as its lucrative TV rights are up in the air.
The Media Research Center, or MRC, accused ABC of electioneering, refusing to cover critical issues, excusing political violence and spreading misinformation in a Monday filing obtained by The Post.
“We finally have an FCC willing to hold Disney and ABC accountable. Broadcast licenses are a privilege, not an entitlement. In exchange for free use of the public airwaves, broadcasters agree to serve the public interest,” MRC President David Bozell told The Post.
“If ABC wants to operate like a partisan cable network, it should give up the benefits reserved for broadcast licensees. No one is above the law, and ABC should not have its broadcast licenses renewed.”
The FCC has been reviewing eight of Disney’s broadcast licenses – including ABC channels in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – after Chairman Brendan Carr initiated a renewal process a year early, accusing the network of failing to cooperate with a probe into its DEI policies.
“Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” a spokesperson for the FCC told The Post. “When a broadcaster files an application to renew their FCC licenses, Congress has tasked the FCC with determining whether the broadcaster has served the public interest. That is exactly what the FCC will do here.”
ABC has blasted the early license review, saying it serves “no legitimate purpose” and is an “effort to suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process.”
It also launched a campaign urging ABC News viewers to support its broadcast license renewals and sign a petition stating that “The View” qualifies as a news interview program, amid a separate FCC investigation into the daytime talk show.
In its new petition, the MRC claimed ABC has broadly pandered to the Democratic party, with mostly positive news coverage of former Vice President Kamala Harris compared to broadly negative coverage of President Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.
The vast majority of guests on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” were aligned with the political left, MRC said. Also, several hosts of “The View” refused to interview Republicans including Trump while hosting Dems like former President Joe Biden, the filing alleged.
It accused ABC of “media blackouts” and downplaying reports including The Post’s bombshell coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the Heritage Foundation’s report on Biden’s autopen use.
The MRC also slammed ABC on the issue of political violence, referencing controversial comments made by Kimmel after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” the late-night host said during his Sept. 15 show’s opening monologue.
The FCC launched its review of ABC’s licenses in the midst of a heated feud between Trump and Kimmel, after Kimmel joked that First Lady Melania Trump had a “glow like an expectant widow” following two assassination attempts on the president.
Trump has called for Kimmel to be fired.
The MRC also accused ABC of inaccurate reporting, referencing anchor George Stephanopoulos’ on-air assertion that Trump had been found liable of raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The network paid $16 million to settle defamation claims from the president, who was found liable of sexual abuse and defamation, not rape.
The MRC said that ABC released a 17-minute interview with Jussie Smollett, the hate crime hoaxer who claimed he was attacked by men in MAGA hats, and then issued just 22 seconds of coverage when Smollett’s story was debunked.
ABC did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
