Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr confirmed the agency was investigating “The View” for potentially violating its equal-time rule over its interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.
“The FCC has an enforcement action underway on that, and we’re taking a look at it,” Carr told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. Talarico appeared on the program’s Feb. 2 episode, weeks after his opponent, Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, made an appearance.
An ABC News spokesperson declined to comment. A network source noted that political guests have routinely appeared on the show to offer different viewpoints.
Carr also said he was “highly entertained” by Talarico’s claims that the FCC blocked “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” from broadcasting an interview with Talarico on Monday, a statement Carr called “a hoax.” Talarico said he raised $2.5 million after CBS opted not to air the interview on its broadcast network, relegating it to the “Late Show” YouTube channel, though the FCC played no official role.
“I think yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of why the American people have more trust in gas station sushi than they do in the national news media,” the chairman said.
Carr’s statements reflect the effect his control of the FCC has had on media and entertainment companies during the second Trump administration, even just through threats. Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel in September just hours after Carr threatened the company during a September podcast appearance over a joke Kimmel made, and he has launched probes into several media companies since he became the agency’s chairman last year.
Colbert said on Monday that the decision not to air the interview came after a conversation with network lawyers, who he said told him “in no uncertain terms” that he could not air the interview. That decision, he said, came after Carr issued a letter last month that warned shows like “The Late Show“ and “The View“ the agency was considering ending a long-standing exception for talk shows that allowed them to conduct interviews with politicians without triggering the rule, saying they did those interviews for partisan purposes.
“So, FCCU, because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself, sir,” Colbert said to Carr during his Monday broadcast. “Hey, you smelt it cuz you dealt it.”
CBS later said it did not prevent Colbert from airing the interview and simply provided guidance on how it may trigger the equal-time issue. Colbert called the network’s statement “crap.”
Carr told reporters on Wednesday that the longstanding precedent affording shows like “The View” and “The Late Show” exceptions may no longer hold.
He said their respective networks needed to demonstrate to the agency why they qualified as a bona fide news program, which would grant an exception, and not as shows hosted by partisan political actors, which he has claimed they might. Neither Disney or CBS have come forward with such a filing, Carr said.
“People can come forward with their own showings and a petition for declarative ruling, but this is something that will be explored as part of the FCC case law,” he said. “The idea is that if you’re a partisan political actor under the case law, then you’re likely not going to qualify under the bonafide news exception.”
Colbert claimed on Monday that Carr has said his opinion did not apply to right-wing talk radio. Carr told a reporter on Wednesday that, while his initial guidance focused on TV cases, he would apply the measure to “broadcasters across the board.”
“We haven’t seen the same issues on the radio side,” he said. “We’ll take a look at anything that arises at the end of the day.”
Carr also used the press conference to slam reporters for reporting on Talarico’s claims that the FCC blocked the interview, pointing to CBS’ statement that it hadn’t stopped Colbert from airing the conversation. “There was no censorship here at all,” he said.
“I think you guys should feel a bit ashamed for having been lied to and then just run with those lies,” he said. “I think it was an embarrassing episode for the media.”
