Ana Navarro ripped the FCC’s equal-time rule as “outdated” and “selective” as her talk show, “The View,” faced a probe from the government agency.
Hours after FCC chairman Brendan Carr confirmed Wednesday that his agency was taking “enforcement action” against “The View” over its interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, Navarro issued a scathing rebuke on “CNN Newsnight,” in which she suggested this political move could come back to haunt Republicans.
“These rules and these laws are outdated and just don’t conform to the modern media landscape,” Navarro said. “The equal-time rule was founded in, what, 1927. There wasn’t even TV networks then. It was reformed in 1934, it actually applied to radio. And in 1959, when there were three networks, it was reformed to exempt news programs. ‘The View’ falls under the news division on ABC. So, today, you can get news and more eyeballs on YouTube and streaming and social media than many programs do on network TV or cable TV.”
She continued: “And it seems like the application of these rules is very selective — only for these folks, but not for radio. Then, you know what, there may come a president in the next term who decides that he wants to or she wants to apply it to talk radio. Let’s see how Republicans like it.”
Carr’s crackdown on the equal-time rule reached new heights in January, when the FCC chair issued new guidance and warned that late night and daytime talk shows might not be exempt from the equal opportunities requirements put in place by Congress.
Less than a month later, Carr shared on Fox News that the FCC “started enforcement proceedings” against “The View” as a way to “hold broadcasters accountable,” after the show hosted Talarico and opponent Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) weeks apart.
Navarro: There may come a president in the next term who decides that he wants to or she wants to apply it to talk radio. Let’s see how Republicans like it. pic.twitter.com/nAPYN2vYyX
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 19, 2026
In fact, it was this drama that seemingly sparked the tension between CBS and Stephen Colbert, who said he moved his own interview with Talarico to YouTube after pressure from his network’s lawyers amid FCC concerns.
“He was supposed to be here, but 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,” Colbert said on Monday. “Then I was told in some uncertain terms that, not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”
CBS responded to Colbert’s claims with their own statement, defending that “‘The Late Show’ was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico.”
Carr later cited CBS’ defense as proof he wasn’t censoring daytime TV and late night, telling Laura Ingraham, “Complying would mean more airtime for more Democrats to say whatever it is that they want. The equal-time rule at its core is about stopping legacy media from picking winners and losers in elections.”
