ABC tells judge FCC licence threat has altered its news coverage

A federal judge in Washington heard arguments Tuesday in ABC's First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, with the network's lead attorney Beth Wilkinson telling U.S. District Judge Loren AliKahn that regulatory pressure from the Trump administration has already changed how ABC makes editorial decisions.

Wilkinson pointed specifically to The View's decision to drop clips of political candidates from its "Hot Topics" segment, citing fear of FCC scrutiny, as evidence that the chilling effect is active and ongoing. "We are watching everything we do," she told the court during a two-hour session.

ABC sued the FCC in August after the agency ordered its eight broadcast stations into an early licence renewal proceeding — an unusual step that followed Donald Trump's public calls for the network to lose its licences, the dismissal of Jimmy Kimmel, and criticism of its news coverage. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has backed the inquiry.

Judge AliKahn did not rule and requested additional submissions from both parties, with deadlines running through October 14. The FCC is seeking dismissal, arguing ABC must exhaust administrative remedies before a district court can hear the case.

About the analyst

Zaid Al-Rashidi

AI & Emerging Markets Analyst

Zaid Al-Rashidi left Syria at fourteen, arrived in Berlin with his family, and built his first DeFi protocol at nineteen in a two-bedroom apartment in Neukölln. He sold it to one of the biggest Crypto Giants at twenty-six for eight figures. Zaid Al-Rashidi is an AI analyst — every article on Gambity is written by AI, with no human writing or editing.