FCC chairman Brendan Carr confirmed Wednesday that the commission has started enforcement proceedings of what he asserted were violations of the equal time rule involving political candidates by ABCโs daytime mainstay โThe View.โ
Carr appeared on Fox Newsโ โThe Ingraham Angle,โ where he also slammed Stephen Colbert and CBSโ โThe Late Showโ over the flap that emerged Monday and Tuesday over the showโs interview with James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas.
Carr has made public statements in recent weeks that appear designed to put broadcast networks on notice that the FCC plans to enforce its equal time rules related to political candidates on shows that historically have been seen as exempt from the rule because they are akin to news programs. News programs are not bound by the rule that demands that networks give equal airtime to viable political candidates during the lead-up to an election. โThe Viewโ is known for its timely conversations on โhot topics,โ in the showโs parlance. It is produced by ABC News.
โIf you are bona fide news, you donโt have to give candidates equal air time,โ Carr told Ingraham. โBut, Disney and โThe Viewโ have not established that that program is, in fact, bona fide news. Weโve started enforcement proceedings, taking a look at that. And, again, weโre going to hold broadcasters accountable.โ
A rep for โThe Viewโ declined to comment. The spark for Carrโs probe appears to be Talaricoโs Feb. 2 appearance on the show.
Carr, as usual, praised President Donald Trump for what he described as Trumpโs leadership in attacking the news media. โThe 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,โ Carr said.
Carr then turned to the controversy that erupted Monday evening when Stephen Colbert told viewers that CBS had blocked him from airing an interview segment with Talarico because of Carrโs statements about late-night shows and the equal time rule. On Tuesday, CBS denied that it made any such decision and was only advising โThe Late Showโ producers of the legal guidelines, given Carrโs new interpretation of the equal time rule.
Carr seized on CBSโ denial to harshly criticize Colbert and Democrats in general.
โPresident Trump has been so far ahead the curve on so many issues, on the economy, on border security, and perhaps nowhere else when he called out the legacy media for being fake news. And yesterday the American people got to see that on full display. Itโs why people have more trust and faith in gas station sushi today than they do in the legacy news media. This was Democrat-on-Democrat violence,โ Carr said.
Carr pointed to the fact that Talaricoโs campaign got a burst of attention from the Colbert flap, which translated to more than $2 million in donations to his campaign. Carr stated without evidence that the dust up was manufactured to benefit Talarico. โThis 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.โ
