1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action against the FCC's weaponization of the equal time rule to censor political speech on broadcast television. On January 21, 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued a Public Notice eliminating the longstanding news exemption for late night and daytime talk show interviews with political candidates. This policy change has already resulted in CBS preventing Stephen Colbert from airing an interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico, who is running for U.S. Senate against John Cornyn in a race that recent polls show is virtually tied. The FCC's new interpretation makes political interviews practically impossible. With 15 declared candidates in the Texas Senate race, a 10-minute interview with one candidate would require CBS affiliates nationwide to provide 10 minutes of primetime to all 14 other candidates. At a January 29 press conference, Carr stated the Commission would not grant exceptions for broadcasts it considers "fake news," and he specifically targeted Colbert and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel by name in a Fox News interview. FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez has stated that the FCC "has not adopted any new regulation, interpretation, or Commission-level policy altering the long-standing news exemption" and characterized the Public Notice as "misleading" and "an escalation in this FCC's ongoing campaign to censor and control speech." She urged broadcasters not to "water down, sanitize, or avoid critical coverage out of fear of regulatory retaliation." The selective enforcement is particularly troubling. While the equal time rule applies to both radio and television, the January 21 Public Notice only mentions television. When asked if the guidance applied to political talk radio, which typically leans conservative, Carr said it "was focused on those TV precedents." This double standard reveals the political motivation behind this policy. The chilling effect is already evident. After ABC's The View interviewed Talarico on February 2, an anonymous FCC source leaked to Fox News that the Commission had launched an investigation. According to the Associated Press, news directors at San Francisco radio station KCBS, which is under FCC investigation for its coverage of ICE operations, have told employees to ensure coverage doesn't anger the FCC. I urge you to introduce or support legislation that protects the news exemption for political interviews and prevents the FCC from using regulatory authority to suppress critical journalism. The First Amendment cannot be subordinated to partisan enforcement of broadcast regulations.