Brendan Carr Sets His Sights on ‘The View’ in Appearance on Conservative Radio Show

Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission chair, is now turning his attention to The View.

This comes after he threatened Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the host’s remarks about the Charlie Kirk shooter on Monday night’s show, which ultimately led to Jimmy Kimmel’s show being “indefinitely” suspended by ABC.

Carr went on The Scott Jennings Radio Show on Thursday, where he suggested that he may look into The View. While The View was created by the legendary journalist Barbara Walters, it is primarily a panel talk show, albeit one that tackles current events.

“When you look at these other TV shows, what’s interesting is the FCC does have a rule called the equal opportunity rule,” he said. “But there’s an exception to that rule called the bona fide news exception, which means if you are a bona fide news program, you don’t have to abide by the equal opportunity rule.”

Carr continued, “And over the years, the FCC has developed a body of case law on that and has suggested that most of these late night shows, other than SNL, are bona fide news programs. And potentially I would assume you can make the argument that The View is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that, and I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether The View and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”

At issue is whether The View, which is produced by ABC News, qualifies as a bona fide news program and is thus exempt from certain FCC rules, including the equal opportunity or equal time rule.

If a candidate for office receives time on a broadcast that is deemed to be applicable to the rule, the network must give their opponents the opportunity to appear on the network for a similar amount of time. It is worth noting that the rule “does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate,” per FCC regulations, but rather comparable time and placement.

Last year, for example, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared in a sketch on Saturday Night Live. She was only on air for 90 seconds, but NBC proactively reached out to the Trump campaign and gave him a similar amount of time during a NASCAR race and an NFL game.

Carr had called out the appearance as a potential violation of the rule.

While The View has frequently hosted guests of all political persuasions over the years, it was a favored stop by former President Biden. It was his first TV interview after leaving office.

If the FCC does determine that The View or late night talk shows are not exempt under FCC equal time rules, the networks would need to provide equal time for all political candidates during elections, which could prove onerous.

As for what The View had to say on Thursday about Kimmel’s show’s suspension, they were dead silent on the blockbuster controversy, despite also being an ABC program.