PDF<\/a>) that significantly narrows how it interprets the \u201cbona fide news\u201d exemption. In a memo, it described daytime talk shows and late-night comedy as \u201centertainment programs\u201d that fall outside the exception.<\/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 memo reads.<\/p>\n
The commission also suggested that many such programmes are \u201cmotivated by partisan purposes\u201d and are therefore not \u201cbona fide\u201d news.<\/p>\n
The new interpretation of the \u201cequal time\u201d rule, the FCC argued, is designed to \u201censure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the public airwaves than their opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Controversy with Colbert<\/p>\n
That new interpretation came roaring into the spotlight on Monday, after a broadcast of the CBS comedy programme The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.<\/p>\n
In one of his opening segments, Colbert alleged that the network lawyers barred him from airing a planned interview that night with Talarico.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just call it what it is,\u201d Colbert told his audience. \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV. OK? He\u2019s like a toddler with too much screen time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has previously criticised both Colbert\u2019s show and The View for what he considers a left-wing slant.<\/p>\n
Instead of broadcasting his interview with Talarico on network television, Colbert instead posted the segment on the programme\u2019s YouTube page, where it has gained more than 6 million views as of 3:30pm Eastern Time (20:30 GMT) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
According to Carr, Colbert\u2019s show could have aired the Talarico interview if it had complied with the equal time rule.<\/p>\n
That would have involved allowing other candidates in Texas vying for the Senate seat to come on the show. Carr also suggested that another solution could have been to restrict the broadcast in Texas.<\/p>\n
But the FCC has continued to face criticisms for its actions. In Tuesday\u2019s broadcast, Colbert addressed the issue a second time.<\/p>\n
He read aloud a statement from his broadcast channel that read, in part, that The Late Show \u201cwas not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview\u201d and that it was instead \u201cprovided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule\u201d.<\/p>\n
CBS added, in the statement, that Colbert could have invited onto the show Talarico\u2019s rivals, including fellow Democrat Jasmine Crockett.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am well aware that we can book other guests,\u201d Colbert responded. \u201cI didn\u2019t need to be presented with that option. I\u2019ve had Jasmine Crockett on my show twice. I could prove that to you, but the network won\u2019t let me show you her picture without including her opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colbert has been a vocal critic of CBS\u2019s parent company, Paramount Global, particularly after it settled a lawsuit last year with the Trump administration for $16m in the run-up to a critical merger for which it needed government approval.<\/p>\n
Talarico, meanwhile, accused the FCC of censoring his interviews. Nevertheless, on Wednesday, he noted that the uptick in media attention from the scandal has helped him gather donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur campaign raised $2.5 million in 24 hours after the FCC banned our Colbert interview,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a05 mins info Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,11587,12,88,2420,3,111,11719,1505,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-476727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-censorship","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-telecommunications","16":"tag-television","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-us-canada","23":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}