Jimmy Kimmel Moves Interview with Democratic Candidate to YouTube Following FCC Pressure
4 sources across 4 countries · Argentina · Brazil · Germany · Italy
Who reported this
- Clarin
- Folha de S.Paulo
- Sueddeutsche Zeitung
- Corriere della Sera
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel announced that a scheduled interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico will not air on television and will instead be published on YouTube. Kimmel stated that the decision was made after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened his program, ABC, and its local affiliates. He claimed the pressure stemmed from editorial decisions regarding guests that the government apparently does not like. Kimmel noted that he has interviewed many political candidates in the past, including Donald Trump in 2015, but suggested that the environment has changed since Trump became president.
The FCC, currently led by Brendan Carr, has been reaffirming rules that require broadcasters to provide equal time to opposing candidates for public office. While news and talk shows were historically exempt from these rules, the FCC has indicated this should no longer be the case. ABC has previously sued the FCC, alleging an illegal campaign of retaliation regarding programming criticized by the Trump administration. The FCC has not immediately responded to requests for comment.
This incident follows a similar pattern in February when Stephen Colbert also moved an interview with Talarico to YouTube after CBS canceled the television broadcast. Talarico, a former professor and Texas state representative, is currently in a close race for a U.S. Senate seat against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. A Democratic victory in Texas would be the first for a statewide office in over 30 years and could impact Republican control of the Senate.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- This outlet framed the event as an instrument of the Trump agenda and a potential attempt to restrict press freedom before the elections.
- Centre
- This outlet emphasized Kimmel's personal reflections on his past interviews with politicians and Talarico's specific political platform.
- Centre-right
- These outlets focused on the legal context of the FCC's equal time rules and the ongoing lawsuit between ABC and the regulator.
Sources
- Centre-right Clarin: Censorship in USA: Jimmy Kimmel pulls an interview with a Democratic senator from his program due to pressure from the Trump government
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: USA, Jimmy Kimmel again against Trump: "Threatened for my interview with Democratic candidate Talarico in Texas"
- Centre Folha de S.Paulo: Trump pressure makes Jimmy Kimmel cancel interview with Democrat on television
- Centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung: USA newsblog: Trouble with regulatory authority: Kimmel does not show interview on television
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.