Whoopi Goldberg walked off her own show in 2010 rather than sit next to Bill O'Reilly.
Now Disney filed federal paperwork claiming that show meets the same standard as Meet the Press.
The FCC just asked every American to weigh in and that is very bad news for Disney.
Disney Files FCC Petition Claiming The View Meets the Bona Fide News Standard
Disney filed its petition with the FCC on May 7, asking the agency to declare The View exempt from the equal opportunities rule – the federal law requiring broadcasters to give competing political candidates equal airtime.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr put that petition in front of the American public on Fridayand opened a formal comment period running through June 22.
"Is The View a bona fide news interview program?" Carr posted on X.
He then answered his own question with the law.
Under FCC precedent, a program loses news status the moment its booking decisions are driven by partisan purposes – an intention to advance or harm a candidate's chances.
Disney's response to that standard is remarkable: the petition argues the equal opportunities statute is unconstitutional on its face, at least as applied to The View.
Rather than prove the show qualifies, Disney is attacking the law itself.
The View Equal Time Rule Violation Is Written in the Guest List
The numbers make Disney's case nearly impossible to defend.
A Media Research Center study found The View booked 128 liberal guests and exactly two conservatives in all of 2025.
In the first quarter of 2025 alone – 63 liberal guests, zero conservatives.
Nine Democrat politicians rotated through the studio in that stretch: Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Gretchen Whitmer, Amy Klobuchar, Tammy Duckworth, JB Pritzker, Jasmine Crockett, Elissa Slotkin, and John Fetterman.
The two conservatives who made it on air got there because they were feuding with Republican leadership.
By early 2026, the ratio was 27 liberal guests to one conservative.
Meet the Press runs a split panel every Sunday.
Face the Nation books Republicans and Democrats in the same hour.
The View books Democrat senators and calls it journalism.
How The View Dodged the FCC Equal Time Rule for 20 Years
The equal time rule dates to 1934 – Congress wrote it to stop broadcasters from using public airwaves to pick election winners.
In 1959, Congress carved out exemptions for genuine news programs.
The FCC kept that framework intact for decades, evaluating shows case by case.
The 2006 Jay Leno ruling – finding that a Tonight Show interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger qualified as bona fide news – cracked the door open for every talk show to claim the exemption.
The View walked through that door and never looked back.
ABC got a staff-level letter in 2002 suggesting the show qualified as news.
Disney is now citing that 24-year-old letter as its legal foundation.
Carr's January 2026 Media Bureau guidance slammed the door.
The FCC told broadcasters it had never been presented with evidence that any current late-night or daytime talk show qualifies for the news exemption – and that partisan intent disqualifies any show that has it.
Disney filed its petition five weeks later.
What Disney Is Actually Asking the FCC to Approve
Disney isn't asking the FCC to evaluate The View.
Disney is asking the FCC to immunize it – to hand the show a legal shield that lets it keep booking Schumer and Whitmer and Klobuchar while turning away every Republican who calls.
The View isn't a news program. It's an unregistered Democrat super PAC running on federally licensed airwaves five days a week.
Congress wrote the equal time rule to stop exactly that outcome.
The law doesn't tell broadcasters they can't put candidates on TV.
It tells them they can't put one side's candidates on TV while locking out the other.
For 20 years, The View ran that operation and called it journalism.
Kamala Harris sat in that studio in October 2024 – 27 days before a presidential election – and the hosts treated it like a campaign rally because it was one.
The FCC's license review of Disney's ABC stations was already underway when Disney filed this petition.
Carr isn't letting a 24-year-old staff letter bury this.
The public comment period closes June 22.
Sources:
- Jill McLaughlin, "Disney Is Asking FCC To Declare 'The View' A News Show, Exempt From Equal Time Rule," The Epoch Times, May 23, 2026.
- Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC), post on X, May 22, 2026.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "FCC Chairman Responds to Disney's Claim The View Is 'Bona Fide News,'" NewsBusters, May 22, 2026.
- "Disney Wants FCC to Classify 'The View' as 'Bona Fide News Interview Program' for Equal-Time Exemption," Breitbart, May 23, 2026.
- Brian Flood, "ABC News' 'The View' has had 63 liberal guests in 2025 without a single conservative: study," Fox News, April 8, 2025.
- "FCC Has Begun 'Enforcement Proceedings' Against The View, Confirms Chairman," AOL, February 2026.
- FCC Media Bureau Public Notice DA 26-68, January 21, 2026.
