Overview
- Stephen Colbert said CBS lawyers told his team the taped segment with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico could not air on broadcast TV and that he should not mention the decision on air.
- The Late Show released the interview on its YouTube channel instead, using an online platform not covered by the broadcast equal-time rule.
- The FCC’s Jan. 21 notice from Chair Brendan Carr warned that programs “motivated by partisan purposes” may not qualify for the bona fide news exemption, though the agency has not formally changed the rule.
- Reuters reported that the FCC opened an inquiry into ABC’s The View after it hosted Talarico, a move that has led some broadcasters to make preemptive booking and airing decisions.
- Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez condemned the blocking as censorship and “corporate capitulation,” and CBS and the FCC did not issue immediate public comments.