FCC asks the public whether ‘The View’ is news, an unusual route to an unusual question

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau on May 22 opened a public comment period on a petition from Disney-owned ABC seeking a declaratory ruling that the daytime program “The View” qualifies as a bona fide news interview program.

The designation would exempt the program from the equal opportunities requirements that apply to broadcast television under Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934.

The petition, filed May 7 by KTRK Television Inc., the Disney-owned station in Houston, and American Broadcasting Companies Inc., is docketed as MB Docket No. 26-124. Comments are due June 22, with reply comments due July 6.

What is less routine is the process itself. The FCC has rarely treated the question of whether a particular program qualifies as bona fide news as a matter for broad public input.

For decades, the FCC and its Media Bureau have addressed bona fide news interview status through staff-level letters or declaratory rulings issued without the kind of notice-and-comment cycle now underway.

Programs including “Donahue,” “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “Entertainment Tonight” and even “The Howard Stern Show” received exemption determinations through this process. The commission has long stated that a qualifying program could feature political candidates so long as the candidates are chosen based on newsworthiness rather than to advance or oppose a particular candidate.

The Media Bureau’s questions in the May 22 public notice go further than that historical framing.

The bureau asked whether “The View” qualifies as a bona fide news interview program. It also asked whether the federal equal opportunities statute itself “passes relevant constitutional scrutiny, either as a general matter or as applied here.” And it asked whether decisions about the program’s format and participants are based on newsworthiness or on efforts to support or oppose particular candidates.

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The third question invites commenters to evaluate the editorial judgment of a network news division. The second invites them to weigh in on the constitutionality of a federal statute. Neither has typically been the subject of a public comment proceeding tied to a single program.

The 2002 letter, and what the bureau says about it

The petition cites a 2002 letter from an FCC staff member that ABC and KTRK argue recognized “The View” as bona fide news. The Media Bureau’s May 22 notice does not characterize that letter as still operative.

Commissioner Anna Gomez, speaking at a May 21 press conference, said the prior finding has been in place for 24 years.

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“The commission can’t just wave a wand and make a prior declaratory ruling disappear,” Gomez said. “If the commission wants to do that, then it needs to go through the proper regulatory channels.”

Chairman Brendan Carr, speaking earlier that day, said the 2002 document was a letter rather than a formal ruling and that it was based on the record at the time.

“A letter based on the contours of a program that existed many, many years ago isn’t necessarily binding precedent for a show that exists today,” Carr said.

The May 22 notice does not resolve which characterization the commission will apply.

How the docket arrived

The petition did not appear in a vacuum.

On Jan. 21, the Media Bureau issued a public notice, DA 26-68, providing guidance on the political equal opportunities requirement. That document stated the bureau’s view that no current broadcast program had affirmatively established its status as a bona fide news interview program under the agency’s framework.

In the months that followed, the FCC opened an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, opened an inquiry into “The View,” and ordered early license renewal proceedings for all eight ABC-owned stations, some of which were not otherwise due for renewal until 2030. In its May 7 petition, ABC argued that the equal opportunities statute would not survive First Amendment scrutiny today, particularly as applied to the program.

Gomez, in a May 21 press conference, framed the petition as part of a broader response by Disney to commission actions she described as targeting content.

The substantive questions in the docket will matter to any broadcaster that airs a talk-format program featuring guests who may also be political candidates.

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A ruling that narrows the bona fide news exemption, or that ties exemption status to a commission assessment of a program’s editorial choices, would change the calculus for booking and format decisions across daytime, late-night and morning television.

A ruling that the equal opportunities statute itself does not survive First Amendment scrutiny would carry implications beyond “The View.” Section 315 has been on the books since 1934 and applies across the broadcast industry.

The proceeding is designated as permit-but-disclose under the commission’s ex parte rules. Filings can be submitted through the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System.