The FCC has reportedly started poking around at The View

Before January, talk shows had exemptions from the equal time rules that hard news programs had to abide by. That ruling had been on the books since 2006, when Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show was granted an exemption from the equal-time rule so it could interview then-Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, a couple of weeks ago, a statement from the agency claimed that “The FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption.” When Carr first raised the issue regarding The View around the time that Jimmy Kimmel was briefly removed from the air, “I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether The View and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs.” 

Of course, we can speculate why The View is patient zero for this kind of action from the FCC and not, say, Gutfeld!. While the show represents a range of views about a range of issues, co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sonny Hostin are notably critical of Donald Trump and would probably identify as Democrats; panelist Ana Navarro was a Republican for most of her life before becoming vocally opposed to Trump during his first campaign in 2016. Panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin actually worked in the first Trump White House but said she voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. The View also airs on ABC, the same network as Jimmy Kimmel Live! and one that had shown itself willing to pay Trump even before the issues with Kimmel happened.