Sure, Paramount got approval for its merger with Skydance last year. But is the new company even getting much these days for all its efforts to appease the Trump administration?
This column is taking a lot of space to say I what I already wrote. That CBS was acting in advance of any action for the FCC. That CBS disputes that it told Colbert he couldn't air the interview. That the equal time rules has existed for many decades and the FCC had decided a long time ago that talk shows were exempted from its provisions in the same way that news shows are. But what this column also does is ignore the implications of CBS and the FCC's actions, to focus on the letter of what they said. FCC Chair Brendan Carr did media interviews yesterday saying he certainly would have enforced the equal time provision against CBS had they aired the Talarico interview on broadcast TV. So who is playing games with language, by not acknowledging that a threat of federal enforcement is nearly as important as the actual action to enforce? My entire piece talks about how Carr is using threats to intimidate media companies into doing what Trump wants without actually taking official action which can be challenged in court. Another thing the National Review piece doesn't note is that the FCC requires the equal time be uncensored. Which means the other candidates can say whatever they like without editing by CBS. Which is probably something they would like to avoid. What bothers me most about all this is how conservative critics are applying a level of scrutiny to Colbert's remarks that they refuse to apply to Carr's strategies or the Trump administration's pronouncements. Carr suddenly decides to enforce a provision of the law which hasn't been enforced in decades, which was originally crafted back when broadcast TV and radio had hardly any competition in media, in ways he will not enforce for radio, where programs featuring pro-Trump conservatives dominate. Come on.
Placing a complex issue in context and reducing it to its components, Deggans has served the public better than the FCC has.
Thanks, my friend!
Over at National Review, I found a very different take on this issue, whith a lot of detail I have not seen elsewhere...
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/stephen-colbert-and-james-talarico-are-lying-to-you/
Thoughts?
This column is taking a lot of space to say I what I already wrote. That CBS was acting in advance of any action for the FCC. That CBS disputes that it told Colbert he couldn't air the interview. That the equal time rules has existed for many decades and the FCC had decided a long time ago that talk shows were exempted from its provisions in the same way that news shows are. But what this column also does is ignore the implications of CBS and the FCC's actions, to focus on the letter of what they said. FCC Chair Brendan Carr did media interviews yesterday saying he certainly would have enforced the equal time provision against CBS had they aired the Talarico interview on broadcast TV. So who is playing games with language, by not acknowledging that a threat of federal enforcement is nearly as important as the actual action to enforce? My entire piece talks about how Carr is using threats to intimidate media companies into doing what Trump wants without actually taking official action which can be challenged in court. Another thing the National Review piece doesn't note is that the FCC requires the equal time be uncensored. Which means the other candidates can say whatever they like without editing by CBS. Which is probably something they would like to avoid. What bothers me most about all this is how conservative critics are applying a level of scrutiny to Colbert's remarks that they refuse to apply to Carr's strategies or the Trump administration's pronouncements. Carr suddenly decides to enforce a provision of the law which hasn't been enforced in decades, which was originally crafted back when broadcast TV and radio had hardly any competition in media, in ways he will not enforce for radio, where programs featuring pro-Trump conservatives dominate. Come on.
Jim Geraghty seems more interested with zingers than with careful analysis of all aspects of the subject. But that's his schtick.