Carr says the Federal Communications Commission has also opened an enforcement action into ABC’s the View
The chair of the US’s top media regulator claimed on Wednesday that journalists had been tricked into covering claims by the late-night host Stephen Colbert that he had been blocked by his network from interviewing a Texas Senate candidate.
Brendan Carr, the avowedly pro-Trump chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), made his comments after Colbert accused the Trump administration and CBS of censorship.
CBS has countered Colbert’s claims in a statement, saying it had not blocked him from interviewing James Talarico, a Texas Democrat, but had merely provided legal guidance that such an interview might trigger equal time regulations that would require him to also platform Talarico’s campaign rivals.
This whole thing is a mis statement of the rule. The only violation Colbert would face, is if the other candidates request the air time, and they denied them. This whole thing is completely blown out of proportion, due to the fact that the election in question, is the democratic primary, not a general election. The two other candidates are Democrats also. I also believe that the FCC couldn’t actually enforce the rule on a primary election anyway, as it is not covered by normal election rules. A party is under no obligation to even hold a primary election, they can nominate any candidate with any rules they see fit.