President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, fired off a warning letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger telling him he planned to hold news networks — like the Disney-owned ABC News — accountable.
Carr highlighted in the letter that the American people have largely lost trust in the national media. “Dear Mr. Iger, Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Carr’s letter began.
He then noted ABC’s recent $15 million settlement with Trump. “ABC’s own conduct has certainly contributed to this erosion in public trust,” Carr wrote.
“For instance, ABC News recently agreed to pay $15 million to President Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum and an additional $1 million in attorney fees to settle a defamation case.”
Anchor George Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic strategist, said on a number of occasions that Trump had been “found liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case.
Stephanopoulos had been warned against using the word “rape” prior to the broadcast, but failed to heed those warnings.
Carr suggested that the company was only deepening the public’s mistrust by prioritizing Disney’s paid streaming services over content that might be made available to more trusted 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,” he added.
Last week, Disney began rolling back LGBTQ-infused shows after reports the entertainment behemoth scrapped its transgender storyline in Pixar’s forthcoming animated series’ Win or Lose.’
The report was later confirmed by a Disney spokesperson, who helped remove the plotline, citing the preferences of worried parents as the reason for the decision.
“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” the spokesperson said.
