Trump targets Disney’s ABC over Khashoggi question, Kimmel comments
Trump’s suggestion to the FCC came after a reporter questioned Saudi Arabia’s crown prince about the 2018 killing of a Washington Post columnist
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.
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.
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.
