FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency “has an ongoing enforcement action” against ABC. view The program was followed by a guest appearance by James Talarico, Democratic candidate for US Senate.
“We’re looking into it,” Carr told reporters Wednesday, but he declined to go into specifics. Fox News reported earlier this month view It was under investigation for possible violations of equal time rules, which require broadcasters featuring candidates to provide airtime to rivals if requested.
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ABC has yet to comment. One of Talarico’s Democratic primary opponents, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is featured as a guest, but no.
Carr’s comments followed Monday’s appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show, when the host said CBS lawyers refused to allow the interview with Talarico to air due to concerns about triggering equal time regulation.
CBS disputed Colbert’s account, saying he was not prohibited from featuring Talarico but was “provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC’s same-time rule for two other candidates.” On his show Tuesday, Colbert pushed back on CBS’s statement, saying network lawyers had reviewed what he said on the previous night’s show. The interview was instead posted on YouTube, which is outside FCC oversight.
Talk shows previously operated under the assumption that their interviews were exempt from the equal time rule under the “truthful” news exemption. Things like newscasts and news event coverage are exempt, and in the past the FCC has confirmed talk shows are also excluded under the rule.
But under Carr, the FCC issued guidance warning talk shows last month scene, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live It should not be assumed that they are exempted when they feature political candidates. Instead, the FCC recommended that those programs consult with the agency to determine if this is the case.
The Colbert incident became a major political and media story Tuesday, raising questions about whether CBS is pressuring the candidate to try to get on the Trump administration’s good side. However, Carr said he was “very entertained. I think it was one of the funnest days I’ve ever had on the job just watching the fun of how this story played out.”
He added, “Look, anyone who isn’t suffering from a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome could see the exact story arc yesterday and how it was going to play out. You had a Democrat candidate who understood how the news media worked, and he was going to take advantage of all your preconceptions to run a scam, obviously, for the purpose of making money in the media and playing the correct news.”
Carr cited CBS’ statement that Colbert was not prohibited from airing Talari’s interview. “There was no censorship,” he said. He said among options that could be considered was running Talari’s interview on the air, but not on stations in Texas, because the rules apply only to areas where candidates are on the ballot.
Talarico’s campaign reported Wednesday that it has raised $2.5 million since the Colbert interview, a record.
Talarico posted a link to the YouTube interview and message on X, “This is the interview Donald Trump doesn’t want you to see. His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert. Trump is worried we’re going to flip Texas.” In fact, it was CBS and/or Colbert’s show that made the decision about the interview, not the FCC.
Carr also blasted news outlets for their coverage of the incident, calling it “the perfect encapsulation of why the American public trusts gas station sushi more than the national news media. It was clearly an effort to get clicks and raise money, and you ate it up.”
In its guidance on the Equal Time Rule last month, the FCC said that when considering whether a show is exempt, they will consider whether a political candidate’s talk show is “motivated by a partisan motive.”
Pressed on what that means, Carr said a host’s political donations to candidates could be one of the factors considered. Colbert has attended political fundraisers, including for Joe Biden in 2020 and 2024, and Kimmel is headlining an event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee next month.
Carr also said that the same time rules apply to broadcast media, radio and TV. Talk radio is dominated by right-wing voices like Sean Hannity and Hugh Hewitt, who also feature political candidates as guests.
He said that TV talk shows were singled out because it was “programmers either reading or misreading some of the case law on equal time rules that apply to broadcast TV.”
“We’ll look at anything that comes up at the end of the day,” Carr said.
Neither did he say view or The Late Show with Stephen Colbert They reached out to the FCC for a decision on whether they fall under the equal time exemption. But FCC guidance issued last month said the agency had received no evidence that “an interview segment of any currently airing late-night or afternoon television talk show program would qualify for the actual news exemption.”
Donald Trump has railed against late-night TV hosts and urged Carr, whom he appointed to chair the FCC, to take action.
Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the commission, characterized the Colbert incident as another example of the FCC punishing broadcasters for speech the Trump administration does not like.
“I think the threats are the point, the harassment is the point, because if the commission takes action against these broadcasters it won’t survive on appeal, because what it’s doing is a violation of the First Amendment,” she said. “So keeping everyone on their toes, forcing them to respond to agency inquiries — that’s all part of the ultimate goal of bringing these broadcasters to heel.”
He cited the FCC’s decision in 2006 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno The host brought up the concessions while interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is seeking re-election as governor of California. His Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides, sought equal time for the agency’s opinion.
In 2024, later Saturday Night Live A cameo was featured with Kamala Harris, just days before the election, NBC gave equal time to the Trump campaign during a sports program the next day. Still, the FCC has yet to rule on the complaint about Harris’ appearance, Gomez said.
“The intimidation, the atmosphere, the fear, that’s what the administration is looking for, because when you look at the actual application of the equal time rule, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Gomez said. “So as we talk about these issues let’s focus on the bigger picture of what we’ve seen under this administration.”
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