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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is mucking about with late-night TV once more.
What occurred? On Monday evening, comic Stephen Colbert, who hosts CBS’s late-night discuss present The Late Present, mentioned he had been barred by CBS attorneys from airing an interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico over considerations a couple of Federal Communications Fee (FCC) rule.
Late-night reveals have lengthy been thought-about exempt from one thing referred to as the equal-time rule, which requires equal airtime for candidates contending for a similar workplace. Final month, nevertheless, the Trump administration introduced that it might start to implement the rule. (The Late Present did put up Colbert’s Talarico interview on YouTube, the place the present isn’t topic to the identical restrictions; it’s racked up greater than 2.7 million views as of Tuesday night.)
Talarico is at present going through Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett within the Democratic main, which can happen subsequent month (although early voting started right now). Whoever wins will face the Republican nominee in November in a long-shot bid to flip a Republican Senate seat at present held by Sen. John Cornyn.
What’s the context? President Donald Trump has lengthy had it out for America’s late-night hosts. Most notably, his administration intervened final yr to briefly pressure the comic Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Dwell!, off the air for Kimmel’s feedback relating to the taking pictures loss of life of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump additionally celebrated CBS’s resolution final yr to cancel Colbert’s Late Present after its present season, writing that “his expertise was even lower than his rankings.” CBS has defended the cancellation, which occurred shortly after its guardian firm settled with the Trump administration for $16 million, as a monetary resolution.
Why does this matter? The FCC’s newfound ardour for equal-time guidelines is transparently partisan, and it clearly has enamel — along with Kimmel’s suspension final yr, the company is reportedly investigating whether or not ABC’s The View violated the identical equal-time rule by interviewing Talarico earlier this month.
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
Have you ever, like me, been listening to so, a lot in regards to the new “Wuthering Heights” movie? (Thoughts the citation marks, that are in actual fact a part of the title.) Do you additionally need to know what’s happening, maybe with out spending a number of hours within the theater? Vox’s Constance Grady has you coated along with her new, scathing, informative overview — you possibly can learn it right here. Have a terrific night, and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!
