THE VIEW’S NEW AD IGNITES BUZZ AS BARBARA WALTERS RETURNS TO DELIVER A POWERFUL MESSAGE CQ

The View is encouraging viewers at home to “use your voice” in direct response to threats from Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

During the Monday, June 22 episode of the long-running ABC talk show, the network debuted an advertisement that urged fans to take immediate action, with a deadline of July 6.

The 20-second ad opened with an archival clip of series co-creator Barbara Walters, who broke down her “idea” for a show highlighting “different women” with “different points of view.” Walters, who died in December 2022, launched the show in August 1997.

“The View has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” an announcer continued. “Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice.”

The new ad is part of a larger viewer awareness campaign from the network. Launching on Monday, the campaign encourages ABC viewers to show support for the network amid its proceedings with the FCC.

In the call to action, viewers are asked to scan a QR code, which directs to the FCC’s official website. There, viewers can submit an “express comment” to the agency with a specific case number automatically attached. The program also links to the same landing page in its description for the YouTube upload of the commercial, which also encourages fans to “act now.”

The ad spot follows FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s direct attacks against The View, after he claimed the Trump administration’s FCC had “raised serious questions” with the long-running daytime program. Carr initially announced in February that the agency was exploring “an enforcement action” against the show when it welcomed James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, as a guest. The show was reportedly under investigation for potentially violating the FCC’s “Equal Time Rule,” which requires broadcasters to provide commensurate airtime to opposing candidates, if requested.

In January, Carr wrote on X that late-night and daytime TV programs had an “obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities,” despite decades of candidates having appeared on similarly structured talk shows without equal airtime always being provided for political opponents.

Over the last year, Carr has supported Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension, has been a topic of discussion on the since-canceled Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has found himself as a target of parody on South Park as a result.

In a petition filed on May 7, ABC argued that recent actions from the Trump administration’s regulatory agency “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech.” Per the petition, the FCC required ABC’s Houston affiliate, KTRK, to file a new request in March regarding whether The View remained a “bona fide news interview program” and qualified for the agency’s exemption.

ABC claimed that “it has never been disputed that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program” and that, in 2002, ABC “requested and obtained a Declaratory Ruling from the Mass Media Bureau confirming that status.”

“The Commission’s order to file this Petition for Declaratory Ruling is unprecedented, beyond the Commission’s authority, and counterproductive to the Commission’s stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion,” ABC claimed at the time. “The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to ‘The View’ and more broadly.”

The View, which has hosted politicians of differing viewpoints since its inception, notably welcomed Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday, June 16, for a sit-down interview.