作者：佐伊·蒂尔曼（Zoe Tillman）和埃里克·拉尔森（Erik Larson）美国广播公司（ABC）及其母公司华特迪士尼公司（Walt Disney Co.）的律师，敦促法官阻止特朗普政府对其许可证的早期审查，将这一过程比作悬在广播公司头上的“断头台”。
By Zoe Tillman and Erik Larson A lawyer for ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney Co., urged a judge to block the Trump administration’s early review of its licenses, comparing the process to a “guillotine” hanging over the broadcaster’s head.
美国地区法官洛伦·阿里汗（Loren AliKhan）周二在华盛顿听取了迪士尼请求下令暂停联邦通信委员会所谓的提前更新程序的辩论，同时该媒体巨头的诉讼继续进行。
US District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington is hearing arguments Tuesday on Disney’s request for an order pausing the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called early renewal process while the media giant’s lawsuit proceeds.
此案被视为对特朗普政府正在利用联邦机构骚扰总统视为政敌和批评者的说法的考验，特别是在历史上受到第一修正案强有力保护的言论和编辑决定方面。
The case is seen as a test of claims that the Trump administration is leveraging federal agencies to harass the president’s perceived political enemies and critics, particularly with respect to speech and editorial decisions that historically have enjoyed robust protection under the First Amendment.
迪士尼律师贝丝·威尔金森（Beth Wilkinson）表示，在唐纳德·特朗普总统频繁批评美国广播公司深夜主持人吉米·金梅尔（Jimmy Kimmel）以及该电视网的新闻报道和其他编辑决定之后，这一过程显然是为了压制该广播公司的言论自由权。
Disney lawyer Beth Wilkinson said the process is clearly an attempt to chill the broadcaster’s free speech rights after President Donald Trump’s frequent criticism of ABC late night host, Jimmy Kimmel as well as the network’s news coverage and other editorial decisions.
威尔金森在听证会上表示，美国广播公司必须“头坐在断头台上，想知道我们所说的任何话是否能让这一切平息下来”。
ABC must “sit with our head on the guillotine and wonder if anything we say is going to make that come down,” Wilkinson said at the hearing.
周二的听证会是在特朗普因报道其政府而禁止三家媒体机构进入白宫的几周后举行的。一名联邦法官命令白宫在案件审理期间暂时恢复这些媒体记者的采访，发现美国官员至少没有向他们提供足够的提前通知和反对机会。
Tuesday’s hearing came several weeks after a blowup over Trump’s decision to ban three media organizations from the White House over their coverage of his administration. A federal judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore access to journalists from those outlets while the case goes forward, finding that, at a minimum, US officials failed to give them enough advance notice and opportunity to object.
今年8月，美国广播公司（ABC）和迪斯尼公司起诉联邦通信委员会（FCC），称该委员会在主席布伦丹？卡尔（Brendan Carr）的领导下，在今年早些时候采取了不同寻常的措施，在ABC拥有的8家电视台即将到期前几年启动了许可证续期审查。
ABC and Walt Disney sued the FCC in August, arguing that the commission under Chairman Brendan Carr had taken the unusual step earlier in the year of initiating license renewal reviews for eight stations owned by ABC years before they were set to expire.
联邦通信委员会的律师迪米塔尔·格奥尔基耶夫-雷梅尔（Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel）不同意断头台的类比，称ABC的许可证在整个过程和随后的法律挑战期间将继续有效。法官还在考虑联邦通信委员会驳回此案的请求。
The FCC’s lawyer, Dimitar Georgiev-Remmel, disagreed with the guillotine analogy, saying ABC’s licenses will remain in effect during the process and any subsequent legal challenges. The judge is also weighing the FCC’s request to dismiss the case.
在续约调查之前，特朗普和白宫官员多次批评美国广播公司，特别是Kimmel和日间脱口秀节目，称其存在政治偏见。四月份，联邦通信委员会下令宣布许可审查，一天前，特朗普在网上发帖称，在这位喜剧演员拿总统和第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普开玩笑后，金梅尔“应该立即被解雇”。
Leading up to the renewal probes, Trump and White House officials had repeatedly criticized ABC, in particular Kimmel and daytime talk show , for what they claimed was political bias. The FCC order in April announcing the licensing review came one day after Trump posted online that Kimmel “should be immediately fired” after the comedian made a joke about the president and First Lady Melania Trump.
法官周二表示，在该电视台因德克萨斯州民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）出现在节目中而受到批评后，她从未看过威尔金森解释寒蝉效应的一集。阿利汗表示，她想了解更多关于政客出现在节目中的典型情况的信息，以便她更好地理解所谓的寒蝉效应。
The judge said Tuesday she had never watched an episode of in response to Wilkinson explaining the chilling effect after the network was criticized for having Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on the show. AliKhan said she wanted more information about how typical it is for politicians to appear on the show so she can better understand the alleged chilling effect.
美国广播公司认为，特朗普和卡尔的声明以及事件的时间轴“非常清楚”地表明，许可审查是违宪努力的一部分，旨在压制总统及其政府不喜欢的批评和其他言论。该广播公司表示，其执照被吊销的威胁笼罩在其做出的每一个决定上，在法庭案件结束之前，应该允许其在没有迫在眉睫的威胁的情况下运营。
ABC contends that statements by Trump and Carr and the timeline of events make it “abundantly clear” that the licensing reviews are part of an unconstitutional effort to silence criticism and other speech that the president and his administration don’t like. The broadcaster said that the threat of having its licenses revoked hung over every decision it made, and that it should be allowed to operate without that looming threat until the court case is finished.
联邦通信委员会反驳说，早期许可续期程序是对华特迪士尼是否存在歧视性就业行为进行合法调查的一部分，这与特朗普政府反对“多元化、公平和包容性”（DEI）公共和私营部门的政策相一致。该委员会指责该媒体公司未能向监管机构提供歧视调查所需的信息，并表示许可审查将帮助他们收集这些材料。
The FCC countered that the early licensing renewal proceedings are part of a legitimate investigation into whether there are discriminatory employment practices at Walt Disney, dovetailing with the Trump administration’s opposition to “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or DEI, policies in the public and private sectors. The commission accused the media company of failing to provide regulators with the information they needed for that discrimination probe, and said that the licensing reviews would help them collect that material.
该委员会表示，对ABC电台的审查符合其确定广播许可证是否符合“公共利益”的广泛权力。它反驳了特朗普和卡尔批评金梅尔和美国广播公司其他节目决定的言论证明政府利用许可程序作为报复该广播公司的借口。
The commission said that the reviews of ABC stations are in line with its broad authority to determine if broadcast licenses are in the “public interest.”It disputed that comments by Trump and Carr criticizing Kimmel and other ABC programming decisions were proof that the administration was using the licensing process as a pretext to retaliate against the broadcaster.
该案为美国广播公司诉联邦通信委员会，26-cv-2902，哥伦比亚特区美国地方法院。
The case is American Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission, 26-cv-2902, US District Court, District of Columbia.