The sheer audacity of Disney marching into the FCC and declaring with a straight face that The View qualifies as a legitimate news interview program is the kind of comedy you simply cannot write on purpose. As USA Journal reported, the entertainment giant filed a legal brief this week arguing that a 2002 ruling granting the show an equal time exemption should stay right where it is, and that the Trump administration is merely trying to intimidate speech it finds disagreeable.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr responded with exactly five words and a video clip. His message was basically: here, watch this yourselves. And oh boy, the clips are something special. Ana Navarro literally instructing viewers who want to restrain Trump to go pull the lever for Democrats. Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar apparently running what amounts to a cheerleading operation for one political party, squeezed in between celebrity interviews and commercial breaks. Whoopi Goldberg doing, well, whatever it is Whoopi Goldberg does. If that counts as journalism, then my uncle's Facebook rants qualify him for a Pulitzer.
The equal time rule is pretty straightforward. Broadcast stations operate using public airwaves under a government license. If they give one candidate airtime while shutting out their opponents, regulators step in. There is an exemption for genuine news programs that make editorial choices based on what is actually newsworthy rather than which party benefits. When your booking decisions revolve around helping one side and hurting the other, congratulations, you have left journalism and opened a campaign office.
Disney's legal strategy of pointing to a ruling from 2002 and saying "case closed forever" is certainly creative lawyering. But the FCC has made clear that these classifications depend on what a program actually looks like right now, not what it resembled when George W. Bush was still in his first term. The show has evolved from lighthearted entertainment with occasional political chatter into something that basically functions as a daily partisan rally performed in front of a studio audience.
To be fair, nobody is saying Joy Behar cannot loathe Republicans or that Sunny Hostin cannot champion Democrats until she is blue in the face. The First Amendment absolutely covers all of that. What it does not cover is claiming the legal privilege of being categorized as a neutral journalistic enterprise while simultaneously functioning as a voter mobilization tool for one specific party. Those two things cannot coexist in the same filing without the universe collapsing from the contradiction.
Carr says he simply wants to enforce the laws that Congress already passed. Those laws require editorial choices rooted in newsworthiness, not partisan goals. Disney's own footage essentially demolishes their own legal argument, which is genuinely impressive self sabotage.
Here is the real kicker to wrap things up. Apparently 15 percent of Americans would willingly consume gas station sushi, but only 8 percent trust the media. The View somehow manages to be both a contributing factor to that credibility crisis and a perfect illustration of why it exists.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
