ABC's Contradictory Legal Positions: The View Can't Be Both Protected Opinion and Neutral News
Source: Jay Rogers. "'The View' Can't Be Both Neutral And A Leftist Propaganda Foghorn." August 20, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that ABC is trying to have it both ways: in court, they say The View is protected opinion journalism being unfairly punished by the government, but in FCC filings, they claim the same show is neutral hard news deserving special legal exemptions. Given that the show's guests are overwhelmingly liberal (about 95-98%) and hosts have told viewers how to vote, the author says ABC needs to pick one label instead of using whichever one is convenient in each venue.
Conclusion
ABC/Disney cannot legitimately claim in one legal venue that The View is protected editorial/opinion content being unconstitutionally persecuted by the FCC, while simultaneously arguing in another FCC proceeding that the same show qualifies as a neutral 'bona fide news program' exempt from equal-time rules; the network must choose one characterization.
Premises
- ABC's federal lawsuit against the FCC frames The View's content as protected editorial speech targeted by retaliatory government action
- Separately, ABC's FCC filings argue The View qualifies for the 'bona fide news interview' exemption to the equal-time rule, a status reserved for neutral journalism
- A NewsBusters guest count found The View's most recent season featured liberal guests over conservative guests at roughly a 95-to-5 ratio, with the prior year at 98-to-2
- Co-host Ana Navarro explicitly told viewers on-air to 'vote Democrat,' which is advocacy rather than journalism
- The equal-time exemption was designed by Congress in 1959 to protect genuine journalism (newscasts, news interviews, debates) based on good-faith editorial judgment, not partisan advocacy programming
- A program with a 95-5 guest ratio and on-air voting instructions functions as partisan advocacy, not as neutral news interviewing like Meet the Press
Assumptions
- Being a target of viewpoint-based government retaliation (a First Amendment claim) is legally or logically incompatible with being ineligible for a specific regulatory news exemption
- Guest ideological ratio is a valid and sufficient metric for determining whether a program counts as 'neutral news' under FCC exemption standards
- The FCC's licensing review, if separated from the Kimmel controversy and tied only to the DEI investigation, could be a legitimate, viewpoint-neutral action
- A show's self-described founding premise (showcasing diverse views) is relevant to its current legal classification