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Wednesday, February 18, 2026 |
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Hey, happy Wednesday. Here's the latest on the "Today" show, Stephen Colbert, James Talarico, Mark Zuckerberg, Ted Sarandos, Norah O'Donnell, Georgia Fort, Crooked Media, and much more... |
Well, here we are again. "Just like the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco from last year, the FCC didn't have to actually do anything — just issue threats bold enough to scare those who control broadcast networks to obey in advance," as longtime media critic Eric Deggans wrote.
Last night, after a day full of news coverage about CBS acting rattled by Brendan Carr's new approach to the old "equal time" rule, Stephen Colbert said he's not trying to have an adversarial relationship with his soon-to-be-former employer.
The key quote: "I'm just so surprised that this giant, global corporation would not stand up to these bullies."
The "bullies," in Colbert's telling, are Carr and his acolytes, who are using antiquated FCC regulations to pressure Trump critics. Now critics like Deggans are calling out CBS for flinching rather than forcefully standing up to politically motivated intimidation.
Every story about this subject should emphasize that the FCC's enforcement powers are limited. Station licenses are not actually at risk of being revoked.
And the Colbert guest at the center of this current controversy — Texas state rep and Democratic rising star
James Talarico — was wrong when he claimed that Trump's FCC "refused to air" the interview. CBS made the decision to show it only on YouTube, and Talarico ultimately benefited. (See below.)
But Carr is wielding what power the FCC does have "in new and laughable ways," said Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
"By putting pressure on late-night talk shows critical of the Trump administration while openly admitting that conservative talk radio is immune from the FCC’s ire, he’s making himself the poster boy for big government putting its thumb on the scale of political debate," Corn-Revere said.
And as I said on "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" last night, Americans are fundamentally opposed to government censorship. It's in our bones. Conservatives spoke out against the Biden admin's "jawboning" — but now the Trump admin is making the Democrats look like amateurs. Trump appointees and allies are trying to chill critical speech in a dozen different ways. So it's no wonder this Colbert episode is resonating so much...
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Last month, Carr signaled that his agency would enforce the "equal time" rule that previous agency heads downplayed. He specifically challenged the exemptions for daytime and late-night talk shows — and observers said it's no coincidence that those shows skew left and that Trump frequently inveighs against them.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, after Talarico appeared on ABC's "The View," the FCC sent a "letter of inquiry" to ABC, a source confirmed to me. (Reuters first reported on this "investigation" on February 7.)
A letter is the FCC's first step in assessing whether a violation has occurred. There has been a back-and-forth with ABC since then, the source added. Notably, and admirably, ABC has insulated "The View" crew from this political pressure.
ABC declined to comment on the FCC inquiry when I asked. But a network source said that the program "regularly hosts sitting leaders and political candidates to discuss differing viewpoints. The format is consistent with how the show has operated for years."
I suspect that's what the FCC was told, as well. The legal letters, the pressure, the media reactions — "it's all a performance for Trump," as a TV insider texted me this morning.
But the scrutiny of ABC's "The View" weighed on CBS management, I'm told, because it signaled an uncertain regulatory environment. One thing led to another, and according to Colbert, CBS "told me unilaterally that I had to abide by the equal time rules, something I have never been asked to do for an interview in the 21 years of this job."
Carr has not commented on any of this yet, but the FCC is having an open meeting this morning, and he is holding a news conference afterward, so we will hear more then...
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Vulture's Joe Adalian, one of the most plugged-in reporters on the beat, wrote on Bluesky overnight that "Colbert has truly had a great relationship with CBS, even after he was told his contract wasn't going to be renewed. So let me say: It's stunning to me that, as he explains here, nobody at CBS told Colbert about the statement."
The CBS statement disputed Colbert's version of events, leading many MAGA media figures to conclude that Colbert was lying. Some Colbert and Talarico opponents have advanced, without evidence, a theory that the pair cooked up the whole controversy to help Talarico's campaign. But whether you believe Colbert's account or the corporate statement, the bigger-picture story is the same: The Trump FCC's pressure against broadcast TV networks is already influencing decisions.
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Where's conservative media on this? |
Andrew Kirell writes: Back in the day, right-wing radio stars like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity frequently railed against the FCC, often bringing up the "Fairness Doctrine," which was abolished in the late '80s, as an example of government speech policing that threatened their livelihoods. Thorough "equal time" enforcement would be a similar encroachment.
Hannity knows that, too. Last month, the LA Times asked him about Carr's equal-time talk, and he said: "We need less government regulation and more freedom. Let the American people decide where to get their information from without any government interference."
Citing that quote yesterday, CNN's Aaron Blake said it's "Going to be interesting to see if Hannity brings up Colbert/Talarico/equal time tonight."
Hannity did not bring it up.
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Talarico is the big winner of this CBS news cycle |
Yesterday's attention was both timely for Talarico — coming at the start of the Texas Senate primary's early voting window — and also lucrative for his campaign. This morning, as Politico Playbook's Adam Wren first reported, the campaign said it raised $2.5 million, a single-day record for Talarico, in the 24 hours after his "censored" appearance.
Curiosity about the controversy gave the interview a much larger audience than it would have had on CBS airwaves. In just its first 18 hours online, the Talarico sit-down reached 3 million views on YouTube, topping the tallies for Colbert's chats with Michelle Obama and Bad Bunny, TheWrap's Tess Patton reported.
As of this morning, that figure is up to 5.4 million. YouTube views and TV ratings are 🍎 and 🍊, but Colbert's nightly CBS telecast averages around 2 million viewers.
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I heard it from a leading TV news anchor, a top editor and a prominent politician yesterday: "Abolish the FCC."
That cry, popular among libertarians and some conservatives for a long time, seems to be getting even more support, for the simple reason that when people are reminded about the FCC's rules – and how the rules only apply to a narrow slice of the big media pie – the whole thing just seems ridiculously obsolete.
As Nick Gillespie wrote for The Free Press during Kimmelgate last year, "Whatever technical functions it might have once served... the FCC now serves almost exclusively as a way for politicians to police speech and block business deals they don't like, all under the maddeningly vague cover of serving 'the public interest.'"
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Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify today in the bellwether social media addiction trial that's underway in LA. For a preview, check out Clare Duffy's excellent CNN.com story about the "tough questions and grieving families" that await him.
Duffy says this will mark the first time Zuckerberg testifies about child-safety concerns before a jury. He previously testified on Capitol Hill about it in 2024, when he famously apologized to families who've accused Meta of not doing enough to stop child harm. "A number of the parents who witnessed that 2024 apology are flying in from around the country in hopes of securing a courtroom seat to watch Zuckerberg's witness testimony," Duffy says...
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Yellow ribbons on 'Today' |
The "Today" show team donned yellow ribbons this morning, with yellow flowers adorning the set, in a new show of support for Savannah Guthrie. The visuals mirror the yellow ribbons and flowers outside Nancy Guthrie's home in Arizona. "We remain hopeful," co-host Craig Melvin said. Here are CNN's latest updates on the search for Nancy... |
WBD talks resume while tensions rise |
"Warner, In Shift, Reopens Talks With Paramount" is the top headline in this morning's WSJ. The two latest developments:
>> Paramount answered WBD's letter by calling the WBD board's actions "unusual" but accepting the seven-day window for "good faith and constructive discussions."
>> Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos sat down with CNBC's Julia Boorstin and blasted Paramount for "flooding the zone with misinformation." He said "the most likely outcome is, there's no adjustment at all. Warners had been very clear that their intent is to maximize cash for the shareholders."
Paramount Skydance "does not have a faster regulatory path," Sarandos also said on CNBC. "I don't know why the Ellisons would insinuate they have some inside track in the Department of Justice, but I can assure you they don't."
That comment might leave you wondering: If Paramount doesn't have an inside track, have all the efforts at a close relationship with Trump been for naught?
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Norah O'Donnell is embarking on a book tour for her new work, "We the Women," which means she will be asked again and again about the upheaval at CBS. In a clip from a sit-down with podcaster Jamie Kern Lima, O'Donnell said, "We have had a lot of leadership changes at CBS, and that has been challenging... People are fearful about what the future means."
>> O'Donnell is "set to host 'CBS Mornings' next week," the NY Post's Alexandra Steigrad reports, "sparking chatter that she might be poised to return to the morning show after a seven-year hiatus."
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3️⃣ notes about Trump + Fox News |
>> Frequent Fox guest Katie Zacharia is joining Trump's DHS as a spokesperson and deputy assistant secretary. "On her Instagram and LinkedIn pages, Zacharia describes herself as a Fox News commentator. Fox, however, says she is not affiliated with the network and is just a guest on the network's shows." (Beast)
>> VP JD Vance appeared on Martha MacCallum's show yesterday and dodged a question about Democrats having the upper hand in midterm polling by saying, "As much as we love Fox News, we always think Fox News has the worst polling. Me and the president agree on that. I'm sorry, it's true." (Newsweek)
>> This Fox framing speaks volumes about our political environment, eh? "Kevin James stayed silent on politics in a recent interview, sparking speculation he's a closeted Trump supporter." (Fox)
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Independent journalist Georgia Fort pleaded not guilty yesterday and was cheered by supporters as she walked out of the Minneapolis courthouse.
"The attack on the press did not start with my arrest," Fort said, the Minnesota Reformer reported. "If you stand for truth, I need you to stand up today. And not just for me. And not just for all journalists. But for anyone who is having their First Amendment violated."
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>> Berkshire Hathaway has "taken a substantial position in The New York Times, valued at more than $350 million." (THR)
>> Hearst "had record revenues ($13.5B) & profits last year, thanks to the continued growth of its B2B arm, which now makes up 60% of its entire biz," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
>> Condé Nast named Adam Baidawi the new top editor of GQ. He told Katie Robertson that he wants to restore GQ "to its rightful place as the North Star of masculinity." (NYT)
>> MS NOW and Crooked Media have struck a deal to "bring Crooked's audio content to TV in a compilation show." (TheWrap)
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Snap adding 'creator subscriptions' |
"Snap is introducing a subscription feature that will allow creators to earn recurring income directly from their most engaged fans, as the social media company works to diversify beyond advertising," CNBC's Zach Vallese writes. He notes that "Snap is entering a crowded market," since Patreon, Substack and OnlyFans "are built around paid memberships, while YouTube and Instagram have their own offerings..."
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Entertainment notes and quotes |
>> "Wuthering Heights" officially won the Presidents' Day weekend box office, giving Warner Bros. its ninth #1 in a row — an "unprecedented streak." (Deadline)
>> Fresh off the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny "has officially received his first solo Number One song atop the Billboard Hot 100 with the nostalgic plena track 'DtMF.'" (Rolling Stone)
>> Bruce Springsteen announced a "No Kings"-themed arena tour this spring, "in celebration and in defense of America." Putting a fine point on the tour's political nature: it starts in Minneapolis and ends in DC. (Variety)
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