President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission reportedly took a shot across the bow at Disney CEO Bob Iger and the Mouse House-owned ABC News over the “erosion in public trust” when it comes to the news media.
Incoming FCC chair Brendan Carr fired off a letter to Iger on Monday — 10 days after he agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump — saying, “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly, according to CNN,
Carr went on to cite polling data and added: ABCs own conduct has certainly contributed to this erosion in public trust. For instance, ABC News recently agreed to pay $15 million to President Trumps future presidential foundation and museum and an additional $1 million in attorney fees to settle a defamation case.
Carr’s stern letter also suggested that ABC was taking a heavy-handed approach in negotiations with with its local affiliates.
“The fact that a massive trust divide has emerged between local news outlets and national programmers like ABC only increases the importance of retransmission consent revenues remaining available for local broadcast TV stations to invest in their local news operations and content that serves their communities,” Carr wrote in the letter, which was obtained by CNN.
Local TV stations, which are licensed by the FCC, are more trusted than national networks, Carr said, adding that he supports more local programming.
Carr expressed “concerns” over how ABC strikes affiliation agreements with local stations that carry ABC shows.
My understanding is that ABC is attempting to extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations under the threat of terminating long-held affiliations, which could result in blackouts and other harms to local consumers of broadcast news and content, Carr wrote.
He also flagged how Disney is prioritizing its global streaming services at the expense of local and freely accessible stations — a strategy employed by most major media companies that are trying to compete with streaming giant Netflix.
Carr concluded his missive on an ominous note, writing that he would be monitoring the outcome of the ABC talks to ensure that those negotiations enable local broadcast TV stations to meet their federal obligations and serve the needs of their local communities.
Reps for ABC News, Disney, and Trump did not immediately return requests for comment.
While TV station license renewals are rarely contested and hardly ever denied, Trump has taken aim at ABC and other broadcasters, saying he wanted them to lose their licenses.
Trump recently slapped CBS News with a $10 billion lawsuit, alleging “60 Minutes’” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris was deceptively edited to help his Democratic foe during the presidential race. CBS has denied that allegation.
Trump also sued pollster Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register and its parent company Gannett after Selzer released a poll unfavorable to Trump ahead of the election. That poll indicated Harris was ahead by three points, but Trump ended up winning the state by 13.
The surprising settlement by Disney followed Trump’s lawsuit against ABC and “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos, who said on air that Trump was found “liable for rape — when in actually he was found liable for sexual abuse in the civil case brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump denied any wrongdoing.