US television host Jimmy Kimmel has announced that an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas will be broadcast online rather than on television, following what he described as pressure from the US telecommunications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Kimmel, a prominent critic of US President Donald Trump, said the interview with Talarico, scheduled for Thursday evening local time, would not be broadcast by ABC because of “unusual circumstances”. Instead, it would be released through the YouTube channel of Jimmy Kimmel Live, he announced on his programme on Wednesday.
The FCC is led by Republicans and has become increasingly involved in disputes surrounding political programming. Kimmel said the regulator had threatened him, his programme, ABC, its partner broadcasters and local stations “on the basis of simple, traditionally editorial decisions, guest bookings that they seem not to like”.
He said the decision to move the interview online had been taken out of consideration for local broadcast stations. The FCC had not publicly commented on Kimmel’s remarks at the time of the report.
The dispute comes against a wider backdrop of tensions between the Trump administration and Kimmel. Trump has repeatedly called on the FCC to review the licences of ABC’s broadcaster and, where possible, revoke them.
Kimmel’s decision also has a recent precedent. According to the New York Times, television host Stephen Colbert took a similar approach in February when an appearance by Talarico on his Late Show, normally broadcast by CBS, was made available only on YouTube.
The dispute centres in part on a change in the FCC’s treatment of late-night programmes. In January, the regulator announced that late-night programmes would no longer be subject to the rules governing news programmes, under which they are exempt from requirements concerning equal airtime for political parties.
Under the revised classification, entertainment-oriented talk shows broadcast by local stations would be required to offer politicians competing for the same office the same amount of airtime. FCC chairman Brendan Carr said at the time that established television networks had for years assumed their programmes qualified as genuine news programmes, even when they acted for purely partisan purposes.
The FCC traditionally has a neutral role as the authority responsible for licensing radio and television broadcasters in the United States. At the beginning of Trump’s second term, however, the president appointed Carr, described in the supplied text as a loyal ally, to lead the agency.
Critics have since accused the regulator of increasingly becoming an instrument of Trump’s political agenda, including through threats to broadcasters over programming decisions and possible licence withdrawals.
The FCC had already challenged ABC in the spring following Talarico’s appearance on The View, accusing the broadcaster of violating equal-treatment requirements. Critics interpreted the action as an attempt to restrict press freedom and influence coverage ahead of the congressional elections in the autumn.
Talarico is challenging Republican candidate Ken Paxton, who is supported by Trump, in the Texas Senate election. Polls indicate a close contest, while Talarico is considered to have a chance in the traditionally Republican state. For Democrats, who have not elected a senator from Texas for more than three decades, victory would be historic.
