The White House ratcheted up its attack on ABC News Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump criticised an ABC News correspondent for asking Saudi Arabia’s crown prince about the 2018 killing of a Washington Post columnist.
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The fresh critique came as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Wednesday it was opening a review of agreements between national networks and local broadcast stations.
Trump suggested the commission should move to revoke the broadcast licenses of Disney-owned ABC stations following questions about Jamal Khashoggi that he called “insubordinate”.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr, a Republican, said the review will cover when stations can opt not to air programming on public interest grounds. The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations, not networks.
The White House press office described ABC News as “a Democratic spin operation masquerading as a broadcast network” in an email sent to the press, which included a list of grievances against the network dating from 2017. It accused ABC News of waging “war” on the president and the millions of Americans who elected him to office.
Disney-owned ABC News declined comment.
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In September, Carr praised two major broadcast owners, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group, who briefly opted not to air Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their 70 ABC-affiliated stations covering nearly a quarter of US households. Nexstar needs FCC approval to acquire Tegna in a US$3.54 billion deal and on Tuesday formally submitted an application to the agency.
