The FCC’s Pressure Campaign to Reshape Broadcast TV
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Brendan Carr was using the old standards that his party has really not wanted anything to do with for our entire lives to now say we're going to punish these broadcasters who don't follow these old rules that everyone forgot about.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr is changing the way business is done at his agency. From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone. Earlier this year, CBS pulled an interview from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for fear of triggering the FCC's rarely used equal time rule.
We were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.
Driving this crusade to crush the liberal media is a lawyer on a letter-writing mission.
One of the things that I find frustrating is that apparently we have people who think they are entitled to treat their shows like their private property rather than being responsive to their corporate management.
It's all coming up after this. From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media. Michael Olinger is out this week. I'm Brooke Gladstone. In late June, ABC began running some unusual ads. They were a call to action, and they sounded like this.
The View has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years. Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice. Scan this QR code you have until July 6th. And this. Channel 7 has proudly served you for more than 75 years. Every day, we commit to inform, entertain, and serve you. Now, the FCC is questioning our commitment to the community. Show your support for WABC-TV.
The FCC has reportedly been inundated with tens of thousands of comments as a result of these ads from audiences who don't want the government meddling in their favorite shows. Where Paramount capitulated when it felt the heat, ABC is doubling down against the multiple investigations launched at it by the FCC. One is the probe into Disney-ABC's policies around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Another is about which shows get exempt from an old FCC rule called the Equal Time Rule. That one was invoked when Stephen Colbert had Texas Democrat James Tallarico on his show. At the time, Tallarico was in a competitive primary race, and CBS pulled the episode off the air reportedly in fear of the Equal Time Rule being invoked.
According to the traditional interpretation of the rule, candidates running for office would not have to appear in the same hour, and they themselves would have to request it. But again, the rule hasn't been applied to late-night talk shows for decades. Anyway, this is all academic. It's not about the law, per se. It's about entertainment shows getting their politics wrong. Fueled by the president's primal scream against the skeptics and the jokesters and the losers, it's a power play executed by the FCC and a few deeply motivated conservative lawyers You'll hear a conversation with one later in the hour who claimed that late night shows like Jimmy Came Alive and daytime shows like The View are not serving the public interest.
They are too one-sided, too liberal. And that's got to be fixed. Not through the courts, where they would confront the First Amendment, but by the FCC enforcing the equal time rule and the public interest standard in ways not applied in decades. And it's kind of working, because the FCC can threaten to yank the licenses of broadcast stations, and that's bad for business, and these days few have the stomach for a fight, even if they could win. You remember when Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September? Late night host Jimmy Kimmel said.
We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
The comment was clipped and posted on X by a right-leaning media watchdog group, and online outrage ensued. Then-FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, on a right-wing podcast, aired his determination to crush Kimmel.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–6:16
2
Why is ABC asking viewers to contact the FCC about The View and Jimmy Kimmel?
6:16–11:38
3
What is the FCC equal time rule and why is it suddenly being invoked against late-night shows?
11:38–22:08
4
How is FCC Chair Brendan Carr using 'public interest' rules to pressure broadcasters?
22:08–25:17
5
Why does Jim Rutenberg say this is a long-running ideological fight over regulated media?
25:17–51:12