“He hosted the ‘Late Show’ on Monday night. Stephen Colbert opened his talk show by stating that he was not allowed to air an interview with a Senate candidate Representative James Talarico (D-Texas), citing CBS’s concerns with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“He was supposed to be here, but our station lawyers who called us directly told us without a doubt that we couldn’t include him on the broadcast,” Colbert said. “Then I was told in a dubious way that not only could I not have it on, but I couldn’t mention that I didn’t have it on. And since my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about it, let’s talk about it.”
January 21 Carr issued a letter warning networks about the Commission’s principle of equal working timesaying it is considering eliminating exemptions because of the network’s potential partisan motivations.
In the past, the equal time principle did not apply to news coverage, and in 1996 Jay Leno producers scored a cut for the talk show. They argued that “The Tonight Show” conducts “bona fide” press interviews and should therefore receive the same exemption as a news program. The FCC agreed and evening and daytime programming was no longer subject to this requirement.
On Monday, Colbert fired back at Carr, accusing the chairman of having partisan goals.
“Let’s just call it this: The Trump administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because Trump only watches TV,” Colbert joked.
Colbert, who will leave his show in May, made his position known, but other people were brought up in the wake of the decision.
- What exactly is the “Equal Working Time Principle for Political Candidates”?
- Who is James Talarico and why was it a problem?
- Did the FCC preside Brendan Carr intervene?
- Why was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro allowed in the program but not Talarico?
- Doesn’t this also apply to radio stations?
The principle of equal time
The FCC’s Political Programming and Campaign Advertising Rules generally govern the circumstances in which radio and television stations and other television stations regulate the broadcasting of political content.
According to his “Principles of political programmingfact sheet “The FCC’s rules are designed to ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the airwaves – except for bona fide message exceptions – than his opponent. Equal opportunity generally means providing comparable time and seniority to opposing candidates; it does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programming identical to the initiating candidate.”
“Equal opportunity and other political benefits are available only to those who have achieved “Legal Qualified Candidate” status. This policy does not apply to cable channels or to video or audio content available on the Internet, such as streaming video content, podcasts or social media.
So, for example, “The Daily Show” doesn’t have to comply, and neither does “Gutfeld!”
And Colbert decided to do it post the entire interview with Talarico on “The Late Show” YouTube channel.which also does not have to be compatible.
Representative James Talarico
Talarico is a “qualified candidate” in the eyes of the FCC because he (1) has announced his intention to run for office and (2) is qualified under applicable state and/or federal law to hold the office sought and (3) qualifies to appear on the ballot. He also officially became a candidate for the U.S. Senate from the state of Texas on February 3, when submitted a declaration of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
He is one of three candidates for the Democratic nomination in Texas along with Rep. Jasmine Crockett AND Ahmad Hassan.
Did FCC Chairman Brendan Carr intervene?
Carr, a Republican, has served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission since 2025 and was nominated to serve as FCC commissioner by President Donald Trump in 2017. As chairman, Carr attacked people who reported on, criticized or satirized the president.
“They’re just giving me bad press. They’re getting a license. I think maybe they should have their license taken away. It’s going to be up to Brendan Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He’s a patriot. He loves our country and he’s a tough guy,” Trump said after saying that networks like CBS, NBC and ABC were “97% against me.”
It’s worth noting that the networks do not have broadcast licenses, but their local affiliates such as WPVI in Philadelphia, KDKA in Pittsburgh and WNEP in Scranton do. Carr launched a formal investigation into every major broadcast network in the country except Fox News.
Not surprisingly, ABC and CBS’ investigations were consistent with complaints filed in Trump’s lawsuits against them. The parent companies of both chains chose to settle the cases for $16 million each rather than fight them in court – despite the seemingly favorable odds.
Paramount also announced the end of Colbert’s Late Show, saying it was a “purely financial decision.” Shortly thereafter, the FCC approved the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media.
Why was Josh Shapiro allowed to appear on the Late Show?
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro appeared with Colbert on January 26.
Why wasn’t he banned by CBS?
Simple. The phrase “a legally qualified candidate for any public office.”
Shapiro announced his re-election campaign on January 8, but did not become an “official candidate” until today (Feb. 17), when the state’s nomination filing period opened.
Thanks to this language, the voivode could also do this appear on ABC’s “The View” as part of a book tour.
What about radio stations?
The equal duration rule also applies to radio broadcasts, where conservative talk shows are among the most dominant formats and regularly feature Republican candidates for office in election years.
Carr has said he has no plans to enforce a more stringent equal-time rule on radio stations as he did with television networks, claiming at a press conference last month that there was no similar rule good faith news release “I was misunderstood by the radio.”
