"The sad fact is that this policy of intimidation has already worked, to a certain extent, by forcing media organizations and others to cower and keep their heads down, rather than act as they normally would in accordance with their First Amendment rights," said journalism professor Gabriel Kahn of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protects against government abridgment of free speech.
"The Administration has attacked ABC's speech — the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air," the lawsuit stated.
The FCC, created by Congress in 1934, issues licenses to local broadcast television stations, typically requiring renewal after a period of eight years. The licenses for the eight Disney-owned stations — including some of its most profitable ones in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston — were not due to expire until 2028 to 2031.
The FCC had not conducted early license reviews like the one involving these stations in a half century. The FCC has made 600 requests for information, yielding 13,000 pages of documents, and sought data on political donations made by staff.
The FCC's license review means the network cannot afford to "ignore the consequences of any decision that might anger the Administration or the FCC Chairman," the lawsuit stated.
For example, ABC decided not to broadcast Trump's July 16 speech in which he revived his long-running attacks on U.S. election security. Trump for years has made false claims of widespread U.S. voting fraud including in his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
ABC instead opted to carry the speech live on its streaming service — something it said it ordinarily would not have done — as it "considered the risk of resulting Administration retaliation" over its decision not to broadcast it live. NBC also did not broadcast Trump's speech live. Afterward, Trump called for both networks to lose their licenses.
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