Media Action Center is a nonprofit group of concerned residents throughout the United States led by former Emmy-winning broadcaster turned media democracy advocate Sue Wilson. We successfully influence policy at the Federal Communications Commission and at local TV and Radio stations throughout the country to ensure We the People are truly served by Our publicly owned airwaves. MAC has joined a current Petition to Deny the broadcast licenses of DISNEY ABC at the FCC to ensure We the People have a seat at our Public Interest table. In 2017, MAC forced Entercom to give up its $13.5 million license to KDND for killing a woman in a radio water drinking stunt. That same year MAC empowered local listeners across the country to take Alex Jones off their local radio dials. In 2000, we informed the Supreme Court in FCC v Prometheus Radio that multiple local TV stations with one corporate owner merely duplicate news stories on all its stations; a similar methodology is currently being used in legal cases trying to prevent the Nexstar/TEGNA merger.

Find full journalistic coverage of all this plus Sinclair Broadcasting's shell game and other public interest media issues at SueWilsonReports.com. See also Wilson's documentary "Broadcast Blues" which is more relevant today than when it premiered in 2009. Broadcast Blues.

Frequency Forward and MAC File to Intervene in ABC/Disney Lawsuit against the FCC

 

 August 24, 2026

 

Motion Argues Viewers’ First Amendment Rights Must Be Represented in Legal Fight 

Over ABC Broadcast Licenses

 

Today, Frequency Forward and the Media Action Center, along with viewers of ABC stations across the country, filed a Motion to Intervene as plaintiffs in Disney and ABC’s lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The groups seek to ensure viewers' First Amendment rights are represented in American Broadcasting Companies v. FCC (Case No. 1:26-cv-2902) and to guarantee the American public has a seat at the table.


The groups support Disney’s efforts to fight back against the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr’s unconstitutional assault on the freedom of the press. As Disney argued in its lawsuit, “the ultimate injury here is not to the station or its parent company… it is to the public.” The motion seeks to protect ABC viewers' constitutionally protected right to receive news, information, and programming free from government intimidation.


“The public airwaves belong to We the People, not to Disney, the ABC stations that it owns, or its shareholders,” said Sue Wilson, founder of the Media Action Center. “We have already taken steps through the  FCC’s process to block backroom deals should Disney’s corporate interest and the public interest diverge. Joining Disney’s lawsuit to fight back against government intimidation and censorship gives viewers a voice in the process and makes clear that their First Amendment rights cannot be negotiated away behind closed doors.”


Disney and ABC filed suit against the FCC on August 18, alleging that Chairman Brendan Carr and the Commission have waged a retaliatory campaign against the company because of programming and editorial decisions disfavored by the Trump administration. The lawsuit outlines how the administration’s unlawful actions have already forced changes in the newsrooms and programming. The FF-MAC motion argues that those actions have harmed viewers' First Amendment rights and require immediate judicial relief. 


“As Disney makes clear in its lawsuit, the FCC’s censorship campaign is not just harming ABC; it is harming ABC viewers,” said Art Belendiuk, legal counsel for the petitioners. “Every day, the stations face a choice between exercising independent editorial judgment at the risk of losing their licenses or capitulating to the Trump Administration. That pressure is already affecting newsroom and programming decisions, and is why we are fighting to intervene on behalf of viewers to protect their First Amendment right to the uncensored and fair programming and reporting they have enjoyed for years.” 


Frequency Forward, the Media Action Center, and ABC viewers previously filed a Petition to Deny in the FCC’s ABC early license renewal proceeding to protect viewers’ rights and preserve a path for public participation. The groups' motion continues that effort in federal court.