FCC chair Brendan Carr confirmed Wednesday that the commission has started enforcement proceedings that will look into The View‘s alleged violations of political equal time rules.
“Disney has a program called The View. And they’ve been asserting the position that The View is what is known as ‘bona fide news’ in the statute,” Carr said during a Wednesday night appearance on FOX News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle. “If you are bona fide news, you don’t have to give candidates equal air time. But, Disney and The View have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news. We’ve started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that. And, again, we’re going to hold broadcasters accountable.”
As of late, Carr and the FCC have argued that talk shows, including The View and others, such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Show, do not qualify for regulatory exemptions that allow said programs to discuss political candidates without having to meet certain requirements. This marks a shift in how talk shows have long qualified for the equal opportunities exemption as a bona fide news interview (which began when Jay Leno’s Tonight Show in 1996 was granted said exemption in 1996).
Carr continued, “The days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for are over. I think President Trump played a key role in just smashing the facade that they still get to decide the narrative here.”
Also in his Ingraham Angle interview, the FCC chairman spoke about Stephen Colbert claiming on Tuesday that CBS blocked him from interviewing Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico due to the FCC’s new equal time rules.
“CBS was very clear that Colbert could run the interview that he wanted with that political candidate. They just said you may have to comply with equal time, which would have meant potentially giving air time to Jasmine Crockett and another candidate,” Carr said. “But instead of doing that, they claim that they were victims. This was all about a political candidate trying to get attention and clicks. And the news media ran with it like lemmings. They just ate it up.”
Colbert’s statement made headlines this week, with CBS releasing a statement that argued its lawyers provided legal advice regarding Talarico’s appearance, and that he was not prohibited from the interview going to broadcast.
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