US Senate Democrats are launching an investigation into whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the CBS parent company, Paramount, prevented Stephen Colbert, the network’s talkshow host, from broadcasting an interview with the Texas Democratic candidate, James Talarico.
Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, has written to the FCC’s enforcement bureau and to the CEO of Paramount Skydance, David Ellison. The Democratic senator demands information and documents relating to the Colbert controversy, including any communications with Donald Trump’s White House.
The Democratic senator accuses the pro-Trump FCC chairperson, Brendan Carr, of running a “partisan censorship scheme” designed to suppress critical coverage of the president to the benefit of his Republican party. The claim is at the center of Blumenthal’s preliminary inquiry into what he called the “FCC’s abuse of power, including dubious investigations and misrepresentations … to silence free speech”.
Blumenthal is also accusing Paramount of censorship of “critical news and satire” at the behest of the president.
He emphasizes that the dispute over the interview with Talarico – a US Senate candidate – occurred amid Paramount’s ongoing attempt to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery in a huge $108bn bid that would require federal government approval.
In his letter to Ellison, first reported by the media writer Oliver Darcy on his blog, Status, Blumenthal says that the Colbert clash “raises the alarming prospect that Paramount is willing to silence free speech to elicit political favors from the Trump administration”.
The Colbert controversy erupted on 16 February when the host told viewers of his Late Show that he had been blocked by CBS network lawyers from airing a Talarico interview. He said the prohibition was a blatant act of censorship by network bosses and the Trump administration.
In the end, Colbert posted the Talarico interview on his YouTube page, where it has attracted more than 10 million views.
CBS pushed back on Colbert’s claims, insisting that the network had merely provided legal advice based on new guidance from the Trump administration issued in January. The guidance says that daytime and late-night talkshows may now be bound by the so-called “equal-time rule” that requires broadcasters to provide the same airtime to all qualified political candidates.
Previously, it had been generally assumed that interviews with politicians conducted by talkshow hosts would be exempt from the rule.
The Senate investigation is the latest in the censorship controversy that has shaken CBS since Ellison became CEO of the merged Paramount Skydance. He is the son of Larry Ellison, a close friend and adviser of Trump’s and the billionaire Oracle co-founder.
The younger Ellison appointed Bari Weiss, a rightwing commentator, as the top editor of CBS News. Weiss has since been embroiled in a series of disputes, including over her decision to pull a 60 Minutes segment on a notorious Salvadorian prison to which the Trump administration had been deporting people.
Colbert will host his final episode of the Late Show on 21 May. CBS decided in July to close the legendary show after a run of more than three decades, inviting further accusations of politicized censorship.
