The Media Research Center (MRC) has continued its crusade against Disney, declaring Monday that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should not renew ABC’s licenses because it operates like a "partisan cable network."FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in April that eight ABC-owned stations must prove they have been operating in the public interest as part of an ongoing look at Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] practices. The MRC called ABC "a political operation that peddles falsehoods, suppresses actual journalism, and justifies political violence" in a petition to the FCC. "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 Fox News Digital."If ABC wants to operate like a partisan cable network, it should give up the benefits reserved for broadcast licensees," Bozell continued."No one is above the law, and ABC should not have its broadcast licenses renewed."ABC LAUNCHES ON-AIR CAMPAIGN ENCOURAGING VIEWERS TO SUPPORT ‘THE VIEW’ IN BATTLE WITH TRUMP’S FCCABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg.
(JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)The Disney-owned ABC affiliates’ licenses were originally scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031, but Trump’s FCC expedited the process. The stations are KFSN-TV in Fresno, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV in San Francisco, WLS-TV in Chicago, WABC-TV in New York, WTVD in Durham, North Carolina, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and KTRK-TV in Houston.The 27-page petition, first reported by The New York Post and obtained by Fox News Digital, said the "MRC has reviewed nearly 50,000 hours of ABC programming over 38 years, and has produced hundreds of studies detailing ABC’s...