{"id":486562,"date":"2026-02-17T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486562\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:39:12","slug":"colbert-defies-cbs-says-network-spiked-interview-under-political-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486562\/","title":{"rendered":"Colbert defies CBS, says network spiked interview under political pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

February 18, 2026 \u2014 6:00am<\/p>\n

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Washington: Late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert says he was stopped from airing an interview with a Democratic political candidate because his network, CBS, feared it could contravene the Trump administration\u2019s latest push to enforce political neutrality on late-night television.<\/p>\n

Colbert interviewed Texas politician James Talarico \u2013 a member of the state House of Representatives who is running for a federal Senate seat \u2013 but announced that the interview would only be available on YouTube on the advice of CBS\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n

\"StephenStephen Colbert (left) was not allowed to air an interview with Texas politician James Talarico on television.AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told in no uncertain terms by our network\u2019s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,\u201d Colbert said at the start of his show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I was told \u2013 in some uncertain terms \u2013 that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn\u2019t want us to talk about this, let\u2019s talk about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Colbert\u2019s telling, CBS feared that airing the interview on broadcast television would breach the \u201cequal time rule\u201d \u2013 a provision of the Communications Act that requires networks to give equal time to legally qualified candidates standing for office.<\/p>\n

The rarely enforced rule carries exemptions for bona fide news coverage, which, since at least 2006, have been understood to include daytime and late-night talk shows, which remain a staple of American broadcast TV.<\/p>\n

\"ColbertColbert interviews Talarico, a Texas politician, in a segment that was published on YouTube.YouTube<\/p>\n

But last month, the Federal Communications Commission warned networks that it did not believe talk shows should enjoy that exemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption,\u201d the FCC told networks in a letter.<\/p>\n

The missive also said the exemption would not apply to \u201ca program that is motivated by partisan purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement, CBS denied that Colbert was prohibited from broadcasting the Talarico interview. The network said the program was given legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC\u2019s equal time rule, and presented options for how that obligation could be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

\"USUS President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump outside the White House.Bloomberg<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options,\u201d CBS said.<\/p>\n

This is just the latest conflict between the Trump administration and the late-night television business. Throughout his first year back in the White House, President Donald Trump has repeatedly raged about his treatment on late-night TV \u2013 which he regularly watches \u2013 and has argued these talk shows should be subject to broadcast TV rules about political neutrality. He has also threatened that networks could lose their licences for failure to comply.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve, Trump posted on social media that Colbert was \u201ca pathetic train wreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success\u201d, and said CBS should \u201cput him to sleep NOW\u201d. Colbert is leaving the network in May.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s appointee to run the FCC, Brendan Carr, has shown himself willing to enforce the president\u2019s agenda. Last year, he threatened compliance action against networks airing Jimmy Kimmel Live,<\/a> following Kimmel\u2019s remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and ABC (America) temporarily suspended Kimmel\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\"FCCFCC chairman Brendan Carr says late night talk shows have not demonstrated why they should be exempt from the equal time rule. Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Carr has defended his push to enforce the equal time rule on late-night talk shows, saying that if Kimmel and Colbert didn\u2019t want to comply with the rules, they could switch to a cable network or streaming, where public interest requirements for broadcast television don\u2019t apply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a law that goes back all the way to the 1950s \u2026 On my watch, we\u2019re going to enforce this regulation,\u201d Carr told Fox News earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The FCC has reportedly launched an investigation into whether ABC daytime talk show The View breached the equal time rule by broadcasting an interview with Talarico.<\/p>\n

FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democratic appointee, called the investigation a \u201csham\u201d and said its real purpose was to intimidate perceived critics of the administration and chill free speech.<\/p>\n

\"CBS\u2019sCBS\u2019s parent company Paramount Skydance is bidding against Netflix to acquire Warner Bros Discovery.Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Gomez also criticised what she called \u201ccorporate capitulation\u201d by CBS in relation to Colbert. \u201cCBS is fully protected under the First Amendment to determine what interviews it airs, which makes its decision to yield to political pressure all the more disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomez noted the network\u2019s parent company, Paramount Skydance, has business before the federal government. Paramount is bidding against Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery in what would be one of the biggest media deals of all time. On Tuesday (Washington time), Warner Bros said it was restarting talks with Paramount.<\/p>\n

On Monday night\u2019s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, after explaining the decision to cut the Talarico interview, Colbert took direct aim at Carr \u2013 particularly over his assertion that late-night shows were motivated by partisan purposes.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Jimmy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re chairman of the FCC, so: FCC you,\u201d Colbert said. \u201cI think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself. Sir, ya smelt it \u2019cos ya dealt it. You are Dutch oven-ing America\u2019s airwaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talarico is considered a rising star in Democratic politics but faces a significant challenge in overcoming nearly 30 years of Republican domination in Texas, which has not sent a Democratic senator to Washington since 1988.<\/p>\n

However, the results of a special election for a state-level Texas Senate seat in January have buoyed Democrats\u2019 hopes. Aircraft mechanic and union leader Taylor Rehmet defeated his Republican rival by 14 points in an area Trump had won by 17 points in the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

Asked about the attention his media appearances were receiving from the FCC, Talarico told Colbert: \u201cI think that Donald Trump is worried that we\u2019re about to flip Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Koziol<\/a> is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 18, 2026 \u2014 6:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-486562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}