The chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says the agency will not act on comments made by former President Donald Trump to strip the Walt Disney Company’s ABC television network of its broadcast licenses.
The affirmation, made by FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel, followed remarks made by Trump during a Fox News Channel interview on Wednesday, which came about a day after he participated in a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that was produced by ABC News.
During the Fox interview, Trump complained that ABC appeared to favor Harris during the debate, opting to fact-check several of his statements but failing to do the same with Harris.
Among the statements that moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis corrected was an assertion by Trump that undocumented migrants in Ohio were eating the pets of residents, and another remark in which Trump falsely claimed that some members of the Democratic Party endorsed after-birth abortions.
“Why didn’t the moderators correct her? Because they’re dishonest,” Trump said during the Fox interview. “I think ABC took a big hit last night. To be honest, they are a news organization. They have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.”
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News organizations, including those operated by television networks like ABC, are not required to be licensed by the FCC. However, like other networks, ABC owns a handful of local television stations throughout the country, and they are licensed and regulated by the FCC because they broadcast TV signals using radio frequencies that are reserved for commercial use.
Through its parent company Disney, ABC owns eight such stations: One each in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Fresno and Raleigh. A legitimate complaint over the operation of those stations could trigger a review by the FCC’s Media Bureau and, if the complaint is upheld, could lead to a fine or revocation of a broadcast license.
That is not going to happen here, Rosenworcel said in a short statement on Thursday.
“The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Rosenworcel affirmed. “The FCC does not revoke licenses for broadcast stations, simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
That said, the FCC has not always shied away from scrutinizing the licenses of some stations, even when those complaints are overtly political in nature.
Last year, the FCC agreed to receive public comment on a matter concerning the renewal of a license associated with Fox-owned WTXF following a petition filed by the Media and Democracy (MAD) Project, which has the backing of some former Fox executives.
The petition says Fox Corporation is unfit to hold a broadcast license because an unaffiliated part of the business that operates cable news channels settled a defamation case for $787.5 million over misinformation that aired on those channels.
Related: Fox renews call for FCC to decide WTXF license renewal application
To that end, MAD Project says Fox is unable to fulfill the requirements of good character that the FCC requires of its broadcast license holders, because the settlement was connected to specific political misinformation that aired on the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network after the 2020 presidential election, which was at the center of the defamation case.
Attorneys for Fox Corporation say the challenge is without merit, because the company’s local TV stations and cable news channels are separate business entities, and one does not have a material impact on the other. Moreover, Fox provided numerous statements of support from Pennsylvania lawmakers and local organizations in Philadelphia that reaffirmed WTXF’s commitment to the Philadelphia region, where it broadcasts locally.
