ABC has brought a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, contending that the commission is employing its licensing authority to penalize the network for its coverage choices and political perspective. Jane and I are joined by Duke University School of Law professor Stuart Benjamin to explore the case, the FCC’s unusually broad notion of the “public interest,” and the longstanding rules that have shaped broadcast speech. We consider claims of retaliation and pretext, the chilling impact of expensive government investigations, and whether this dispute could push the Supreme Court to reassess broadcasters’ second-class status under the First Amendment.
Also check out our past episodes:
- Could AI-Based Content Land You in Defamation Trouble? The Robby Starbuck Case
- Shrexting: Is It Protected Speech or Criminal Harassment?
- Privacy Rights and the First Amendment
- Defamacast and Beyond: How Defamation Law Unfolds in the U.S.
- Speech, Not Conduct: Supreme Court Ruling on Conversion Therapy
- Fairness Doctrine, Stephen Colbert, and the Prospects for Political Broadcasts
- Student Expression, Threats, and the First Amendment
- Can Journalists Be Prosecuted for Protest Involvement? The Don Lemon Question
- The Year 2025 in Free Speech
- Does the First Amendment Shield So-Called Addictive Algorithms?
- Defamation Law in the AI Era with Lyrissa Lidsky
- Freedom of Expression and the Evolution of Legal Education
- From Brandenburg to Britain: Rethinking Digital-Age Free Speech with Eric Heinze
- Kimmel, the FCC, and the State’s Authority over Broadcast Speech
- Chat with FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff
- A Hot-Button First Amendment Issue: Trump’s Flag Desecration Executive Order
- Free Speech and Doxxing
- High Court Ruling on Online Protection for Children from Sexually Themed Content
- Free Speech, Public School Students, and “There Are Only Two Genders”
- Are AI Firms Liable for Statements Generated by AI?
- Harvard vs. Trump: Free Speech and Government Grants
- Trump’s Battle with Large Law Firms
- Are Non-Citizens Deportable for Their Speech?
- Press Freedom, Featuring Floyd Abrams
- Free Speech, Privately Exercised Power, and Private Sector Employees
- Court Upholds TikTok Divestiture Legislation
- Free Speech in European (and Other) Democracies, with Prof. Jacob Mchangama
- Protests, Public Pressure Campaigns, Tort Law, and the First Amendment
- Misinformation: Then, Now, and What Lies Ahead
- I Know It When I See It: Free Speech and Obscenity Statutes
- Speech and Violence
- Emergency Podcast: The Supreme Court’s Social Media Rulings
- Internet Policy and Free Speech: A Talk with Rep. Ro Khanna
- Free Speech, TikTok, and Bills of Attainder, with Prof. Alan Rozenshtein
- The First Amendment on Campus with Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
- Free Speech on Campus
- Artificial Intelligence and Free Speech
- Free Speech, Persuasion by the Government, and Government Coercion
- Deplatformed: The Court Weighs Social Media Oral Arguments
- Book Bans—or Are They?
