Stephen Colbert, Trump and whats making broadcasters nervous
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It was an extraordinary media moment: CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert on Tuesday publicly blasted his own employer over its handling of his interview with Democratic U.S.Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas.Colbert contended that his own network prevented him from airing the interview Monday in an effort to appease the Trump administration, which CBS has denied.
He chose instead to put the sit-down with the Texas state legislator on YouTube, which is not regulated by the FCC.Hollywood Inc.
A little-used FCC rule could make a comeback if commission Chair Brendan Carr has his way.The standoff not only highlighted the simmering tensions inside CBS with the late-night host, it also marked the latest flash point in the ongoing clash between the Trump administration and leading media and entertainment figures — including other late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel — who have been openly critical of the president’s policies.Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has been leading the administration’s efforts, aggressively attempting to wield the long dormant equal-time rules requiring broadcast TV stations to offer equal time to opposing candidates as a means of influencing the legacy media companies who President Trump says treat him unfairly.Carr contends that the effort is a long overdue corrective to combat what he and Trump believe is liberal bias in broadcast network news coverage.He has even threatened to pull TV station licenses if programmers don’t get in line.Last fall, he warned ABC that it could lose its TV station licenses after Kimmel made remarks on his program about slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk that upset conservatives.
Two major TV station groups pulled the program and the network suspended Kimmel‘s program for a week.But experts say the efforts — along with the recent arrest of former CNN journalist Don Lemon...