Trump FCC warns all broadcasters to follow orders or be punished like ABC
Trump FCC warns all broadcasters to follow orders or be punished like ABC
特朗普政府下的联邦通信委员会（FCC）警告所有广播公司：服从命令，否则将面临如 ABC 般的惩罚
The eight broadcast TV stations owned by ABC filed applications for early license renewals under protest yesterday, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of trying to suppress speech as part of “an unprecedented attack on a single company’s entire portfolio of broadcast licenses.” ABC 旗下的八家广播电视台昨日在抗议下提交了提前续期执照的申请，并指责联邦通信委员会（FCC）试图压制言论，称此举是“针对单一公司旗下所有广播执照的前所未有的攻击”。
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has repeatedly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from President Trump’s least favorite networks. He recently ordered the Disney-owned ABC to file early license renewal applications for all of its TV stations over allegations that its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices violate anti-discrimination rules. FCC 主席布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）多次威胁要吊销特朗普总统最不喜欢的电视网的广播执照。他最近下令迪士尼旗下的 ABC 为其所有电视台提交提前续期执照的申请，理由是其多元化、公平和包容性（DEI）实践违反了反歧视规则。
“The only plausible reason to issue the Order is to punish the Station for speech the government does not like,” ABC said in its filings. The FCC is “using the license process renewal to punish a broadcaster for its editorial choices” in “an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices,” it said. ABC 在文件中表示：“发布该命令唯一合理的理由，就是因为政府不喜欢该电视台的言论，从而对其进行惩罚。”该公司称，FCC 正在“利用执照续期程序来惩罚一家广播公司的编辑选择”，这是“针对不受欢迎的编辑声音所进行的权力与胁迫的非凡展示”。
ABC said the order it received “sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America.” If that warning wasn’t clear enough, the FCC yesterday issued a public notice to “remind” all broadcasters of “their public interest obligations.” ABC 表示，它收到的命令“向美国每一家广播公司发出了明确的警告”。如果这一警告还不够明确，FCC 昨日又发布了一份公告，旨在“提醒”所有广播公司履行其“公共利益义务”。
The public notice was issued on the same day as the deadline the FCC set for ABC to submit its early license renewal applications, and urged all broadcasters to “review and modify their operations to ensure compliance.” Warning that other broadcasters could face threats to their licenses, the public notice said the FCC “will not hesitate to exercise its statutory authority to ensure that broadcasters either fulfill their public interest obligation or provide the privilege of being a broadcast licensee to someone that will fulfill that duty.” 该公告发布的日期正是 FCC 为 ABC 设定的提交提前续期申请的截止日期，公告敦促所有广播公司“审查并修改其运营以确保合规”。公告警告称其他广播公司也可能面临执照被威胁的风险，并表示 FCC “将毫不犹豫地行使其法定权力，以确保广播公司要么履行其公共利益义务，要么将广播执照持有者的特权让给能够履行该职责的人。”
The FCC said it may order early license reviews or other punitive measures when it “finds that a broadcaster has failed to serve the public interest.” The notice said broadcasters have an “obligation to offer programming responsive to the needs and interests of the local communities they are licensed to serve.” FCC 表示，当“发现广播公司未能服务于公共利益”时，可能会下令进行提前执照审查或采取其他惩罚措施。公告指出，广播公司有“义务提供能够响应其所服务当地社区需求和利益的节目”。
ABC: FCC order “has no legitimate purpose”
ABC：FCC 的命令“没有任何合法目的”
ABC submitted individual filings for WABC-TV in New York; WPVI-TV in Philadelphia; WTVD in Durham, North Carolina; WLS-TV in Chicago; KGO-TV in San Francisco; KFSN-TV in Fresno, California; KTRK-TV in Houston; and KABC-TV in Los Angeles. The station “submits this license renewal application under protest in response to an unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional Order issued on April 28, 2026, by the Media Bureau,” ABC’s filings said. ABC 为纽约的 WABC-TV、费城的 WPVI-TV、北卡罗来纳州达勒姆的 WTVD、芝加哥的 WLS-TV、旧金山的 KGO-TV、加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺的 KFSN-TV、休斯顿的 KTRK-TV 以及洛杉矶的 KABC-TV 分别提交了文件。ABC 的文件称，该电视台“在抗议下提交此执照续期申请，以回应媒体局于 2026 年 4 月 28 日发布的非法、武断且违宪的命令”。
“The Commission had not demanded early renewal in over five decades. And it has never before demanded simultaneous license renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a network as it has here. The Order has no legitimate purpose.” “委员会在过去五十多年里从未要求过提前续期。而且，它以前从未像现在这样，要求同一网络共同拥有的多家电视台同时提交执照续期申请。该命令没有任何合法目的。”
ABC said it was filing the applications without waiving any rights and called on the FCC to rescind the order. “There is no information that the application will reveal that the Commission could not obtain through other means,” ABC wrote. “The Order is inconsistent with a legitimate exercise of investigative authority and is plainly incompatible with the First Amendment. Worse, the Order opens the door to an assault on the Station’s license, while the Commission searches for a legal pretext to achieve its desired goal. This effort to suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process must not prevail.” ABC 表示，提交申请并不意味着放弃任何权利，并呼吁 FCC 撤销该命令。ABC 写道：“申请中不会披露任何委员会无法通过其他方式获得的信息。该命令与合法的调查权力行使不符，且显然与第一修正案不相容。更糟糕的是，该命令为攻击电视台执照打开了大门，而委员会则在寻找法律借口以实现其预定目标。这种打着官僚程序幌子压制言论的行为绝不能得逞。”
Carr calls Disney responses “disingenuous”
卡尔称迪士尼的回应“虚伪”
Carr wrote in an X post yesterday that the “FCC has been investigating Disney for over a year now after reports surfaced alleging that it had been discriminating against people based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics in violation of federal nondiscrimination laws,” and that “Disney only filed these applications to renew their ABC broadcast licenses after the FCC informed the company that their responses to the agency’s investigation had been disingenuous, deficient, and improper.” 卡尔昨日在 X 平台上发文称，“在有报道称迪士尼因种族、性别或其他受保护特征而歧视他人，违反联邦反歧视法后，FCC 对迪士尼的调查已超过一年”，并表示“迪士尼是在 FCC 通知该公司其对调查的回应虚伪、不足且不当之后，才提交这些 ABC 广播执照续期申请的。”
ABC said in its filings that the company produced over 11,000 pages of documents in response to a series of FCC requests. ABC said the order to file early license renewals “purports to investigate ‘possible violations’ of the ‘prohibition on unlawful discrimination,’ but never identifies what violation it had in mind.” ABC 在文件中表示，公司已针对 FCC 的一系列要求提供了超过 11,000 页的文件。ABC 称，提前续期执照的命令“声称要调查‘可能违反’‘禁止非法歧视’的行为，但从未明确指出其所指的违规行为是什么。”
“It is not credible to now declare the early renewal process ‘essential’ to the same investigation, particularly when after releasing the Order, the Enforcement Bureau issued yet another request for information to which the Company is required to respond less than 24 hours after [this] filing,” ABC said. “The early renewal procedure is not an investigative tool and adds nothing to the Commission’s investigative capacity.” “现在宣称提前续期程序对同一调查至关重要是不可信的，特别是在发布该命令后，执法局又发出了另一份信息请求，要求公司在提交此文件后不到 24 小时内做出回应，”ABC 表示。“提前续期程序并非调查工具，对委员会的调查能力没有任何帮助。”
Arguing that the order serves as a threat to all broadcasters, ABC said: When a broadcaster must weigh regulatory retaliation before making editorial decisions, the public loses access to journalism that is free from government influence. The Order—both on its own terms and as a signal to other broadcasters—advances exactly that result. A press that edits itself to avoid government displeasure is not a free press. The Commission should not be the instrument of that outcome. ABC 认为该命令对所有广播公司构成了威胁，并表示：当广播公司在做出编辑决定前必须权衡监管报复时，公众就失去了获取不受政府影响的新闻报道的机会。该命令——无论是其本身条款还是作为对其他广播公司的信号——恰恰导致了这一结果。为了避免引起政府不满而进行自我审查的媒体，不是自由的媒体。委员会不应成为导致这一结果的工具。
Legal experts say law on ABC’s side
法律专家称法律站在 ABC 一边
As we’ve previously written, legal experts say the law is on ABC’s side in its fight against the unusual broadcast license review. Under a 1996 change to communications law, the FCC faces what has been described as “an almost insurmountable burden” for denying a broadcast license renewal. ABC’s eight TV stations are scheduled for renewals between 2028 and 2031, and the FCC order to start the renewal process early doesn’t change those expiration dates. Carr previously threatened ABC station licenses in September 2025, alleging at the time that airing Jimmy Kimmel’s show might violate the rarely enforced news dist 正如我们之前所写，法律专家表示，在对抗这次不同寻常的广播执照审查中，法律站在 ABC 一边。根据 1996 年对通信法的修改，FCC 在拒绝广播执照续期时面临着被描述为“几乎无法逾越的负担”。ABC 的八家电视台原定于 2028 年至 2031 年间进行续期，FCC 提前启动续期程序的命令并未改变这些到期日期。卡尔曾在 2025 年 9 月威胁过 ABC 的电视台执照，当时他声称播出吉米·坎摩尔（Jimmy Kimmel）的节目可能违反了鲜少执行的新闻准则。