FCC to Launch Investigations Into ABC and Disney's DEI Policies and Practices
The FCC chairman says he is putting the "finishing touches" on a letter that will be sent to the company.
The FCC is reportedly finalizing a letter to ABC and parent company Disney that will launch an investigation into the company’s DEI policies and practices.
What’s Happening:
- The FCC has their sights on the Walt Disney Company with an impending investigation into the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices.
- The news comes after similar investigations have been launched at Comcast and Verizon.
- FCC chairman Brendan Carr revealed that he was putting the “finishing touches" on a letter to the company in a recent interview with Punchbowl News (video below), but did not specify which specific DEI initiatives at ABC and its parent company concerned him.
- Carr also mentions that the letter would outline similar concerns that were raised at Comcast and Verizon and “whether they’re engaged in any sort of this DEI discrimination that could run afoul of our EEO rules or potentially our public interest standard… we’re going to get to the bottom of everything that is ongoing here and stay tuned on that one."
- This comes after news earlier this year where Carr wrote a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, warning him that he would be watching the carriage negotiations with local broadcast TV stations. At that point, Carr had accused ABC of “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."
- This also comes after the FCC reinstated a “news distortion" complaint against ABC affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia after the network fact-checked Donald Trump during a presidential debate.
- Carr also told Punchbowl, “And so what I’ve suggested to regulated companies — not just ones that are looking to do deals before the FCC but all businesses regulated by the FCC — is I suggest that they get busy ending their promotion of DEI."
- The Walt Disney Company has previously announced that they would be ending their “Reimagine Tomorrow" campaign, which had the goal of telling more stories from underrepresented groups, though it should also be noted that company shareholders voted to reject a proposal that would have ended the company’s involvement in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index - a survey that measures corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality during the recent Shareholder’s Meeting.