Local TV Pushes Back

ABC7 Los Angeles is asking viewers to help defend its broadcast license. That's not something you see every day.

Appeasement isn’t working.

For months, major media companies have tried to avoid conflict with President Trump and his allies. ABC settled a lawsuit. Paramount settled a lawsuit. Amazon signed on to produce a Melania Trump documentary. Executives visited Mar-a-Lago.

Now ABC appears to be reaching a different conclusion.

The company has launched a public campaign against the FCC, airing ads on ABC7 Los Angeles, promoting them on social media, and urging viewers to contact regulators directly. That’s a significant change for an industry that has spent a lot of the past year trying to stay out of the line of fire.

The campaign centers on the FCC’s decision to subject ABC-owned stations, including KABC Los Angeles, to an unusually early license review. The agency has also opened a proceeding involving The View. ABC says both actions raise serious First Amendment concerns and has decided to make its case in public.

ABC appears to have concluded that keeping its head down didn’t buy much protection.

The company paid millions to settle with Trump. But it found itself facing new regulatory scrutiny anyway.

That doesn’t make Disney a champion of press freedom. Disney is a corporation. So is Paramount. Public companies answer to shareholders before they answer to principles.

But corporations are good at recognizing incentives.

If executives begin to believe that settlements, concessions, and public displays of cooperation don’t reduce political pressure, they’re likely to change strategies. Fighting back starts looking like the more practical option. I doubt that comes from some newfound commitment to press freedom. It comes from recognizing that accommodation may not be producing the desired result.

It may be the first sign that parts of the media industry have decided accommodation has reached its limits.

I’ve spent most of my life in broadcasting. License renewals were usually paperwork. Lawyers handled them. Viewers and listeners never knew they were happening.

Now television stations are buying ad time to ask viewers to help defend their licenses.

Whatever the reason, it’s a new battlefront.

If you believe the FCC is overstepping its authority, tell them. If you believe press freedom matters, support the people who practice it.

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