Originally published at: Colbert Calls Out CBS’ Fear Of Trump Admin, Live - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Comedian and “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert called out his network for its compliance with the Trump administration’s ongoing attempt to crack down on dissent. You may have seen the clips by now, but to recap: before introducing actress Jennifer Garner as his guest for Monday night’s show, Colbert let the audience know that…
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Stop it with the “fear” and “cowardice” talk.
IT. IS. AVARICE.
When the “fear” is merely fear of the potential loss of power, prominence, profit, position, privilege, potential deals (looking at you, Ellisons), etc., the motivating animus is not simply “fear” or “cowardice.”
It MUST be understood as avarice.
The Ellisons clearly don’t give a fuck about CBS’s success, growth or prosperity. Like WaPo with Bezos the KKKlown, CBS is a pay-to-play loss leader. Bribes aren’t always paid in money.
This was also potentially in-kind campaign contributions to anyone running against Talarico. 5 year SOL. I’d like to know what another lawyer with actual expertise in the field says on that.
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The FCC has done itself no favors. It’s gonna be a bloodbath in the next administration.
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Darn shame, that is…….
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One can hope…
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Didn’t Reagan nix that in the 80’s? Is it like a light switch only republican admins can turn on and off? Like anti monoply laws.
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Raygun snuffed the fairness doctrine; this is about the equal time rule.
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Do we look at that as the FCC as an institution? Or the people chosen to lead it for the benefit of the administration only, currently?
Saying the FCC has done itself no favors, strips the specific culpability of those individuals who have taken it hard right.
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Thought “equal time” falls under the fairness doctrine?
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I read somewhere that Brendan “What the hell is The Streisand Effect?” Carr intends to do an equal-time carve-out for talk radio. Because of course.
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From what I read (just learning as I go here) the fairness doctrine applies to issues, and the equal time rule applies to candidates.
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After watching the Talarico interview on Colbert, I have two takeaways:
- Paramount self-censorship is craven and stupid. I hope all Texans watch the interview on Youtube, and the next administration deports Bari Weiss to CECOT and suspends CBS’s broadcasting license.
- I see why the Trump administration is running scared from Talarico. An old-school religious liberal who can speak plainly and convincingly, he is the strongest liberal politician to come out of TX since Ann Richards (and I donated to Beto). He will slice through the MAGA base in TX like a hot knife through butter.
Even with the GOP eroding free speech further every day, I still like our odds at taking back control in the next cycle (but have no idea how we overcome the structural economic advantage that the GOP, Big Oil, and the AI companies enjoy!)
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Not to make light of the very real issue, but on the other side of the balance,
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Between haphazard tariffs and deporting some of their best workers and cartoonishly corrupt cronyism and shattered international trade relations and one thing and another, quite a few of GOP’s traditional major donors aren’t feeling too happy with their ROI these days;
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Big Oil is a declining industry – no matter what the orange sooper genius thinks, China and much of the rest of the world know that renewable energy is the future and fossil fuels are the past;
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The “structural economic advantage” of the AI companies will last only as long as the present valuation bubble lasts, after which they’re gonna be begging for government intervention to bail out all these critical infrastructure assets that they’ve been building with Other People’s Money like drunk sailors on hour 23 of a 24-hour shore pass.
Also, complete tangent, but
- Have the boards been more screwed than usual tonight? Took me several tries to get this discussion to load without an error.
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Talarico is a Presbyterian seminarian, a grandson of a Baptist preacher who is currently studying to become a minister.
Gosh! I’ll bet that Talarico’s grandfather is the oldest student in his classes.
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Reagan killed the fairness doctrine, not the equal time provision in the FCC Act. The fairness doctrine required broadcasters to provide balanced and impartial news coverage of controversial issues. The equal time provision (47 US Code §315) says “If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.”
@ClutchCargo Yup, news coverage vs. air time for candidates
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This happened.
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One more time, Networks do not have licenses, stations do.
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Accidents in the global energy industry don’t have to occur in the US to change investment plans. The Fukushima disaster, for example, caused a global rethinking of nuclear safety in 2011-2015. While most Americans associate tanker oil spills with the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 37,000 metric tons of crude, Europeans still also react to mentions of the 1967 Torrey Canyon spill off Cornwall, England (119,000 metric tons) and the 1978 Amoco Cadiz spill (223,000 metric tons) off the coast of Brittany, France. The risk of a major oil spill in the Baltic Sea right now is exceptionally high due to the combination of unusually thick sea ice and the presence of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of aging, rust-bucket tankers transporting crude oil, The Baltic is a fragile and shallow sea basin that has only existed since the last ice age, and has gone from a pure oligotrophic jewel to an anoxic problem child in just 80 years. But Putin and Big Oil just keep pushing. Notably, we can already assume that any damage claims from such accidents will never be recovered. The damage from the Macondo (Deepwater Horizon) spill has never been compensated as the long-term ecological impacts are still emerging. Initial assessments, that led to a $20.8 billion settlement in 2016, likely underestimated the extent of the damage. BP was granted until 2031 to pay out damage installments. Anadarko and Mitsui, which were partly liable, paid their shares to BP. The actual damage estimate in 2016 was $65 billion. Although the worst environmental disaster in US history was expensive, and even provoked shareholder suits for sloppy management, BP was back to business as usual by 2020. It will be interesting to see how EU law plays out if a Russian oil tanker spills in the frozen Baltic in coming weeks.
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The late night comedians will be the salvation of us all.
Remember this not the first time the Republicans have struck at them, i.e. The Smother Brothers Show. Not to mention, if so few watch these shows, why is the Trump and his cohorts so scared of them? Is their humor not mean spirited enough.
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I cite Tom Massie (R-KY) to those who revel in characterizing all Republicans as being just the same and aligned in lockstep. As Massie notes (I loved this part):
The margin is razor-thin, so on any given day, I would just need one or two of my own co-conspirators to get something done.
Massie can get a few Rs to move to his position on particular bills. As can Democrats. They’ve actually been doing so. That’s how so much got done under “Sleepy Joe” underbussed by all Biden.
What’s my point? Don’t give up in fashionable cynicism. The primaries and then the elections, where things can be improved, are at hand.
Oh, and cats.
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