Think from KERA Will Trump make television great again?
Jan 29, 2026
Jim Rutenberg, New York Times writer-at-large covering media and politics, discusses how the FCC applied pressure to shape television. He outlines jawboning, why local affiliates are vulnerable, efforts to revive old broadcast rules, and strategies conservatives use to influence programming. The conversation highlights merger leverage, late-night risks, and proposed changes that could reshape network TV.
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Jawboning: Censorship By Proxy
- Jawboning is when government pressures private companies to censor speech indirectly by threatening regulatory action.
- That tactic offers plausible deniability but raises serious First Amendment and coercion concerns.
Why Broadcast Has Different Rules
- Broadcast TV and radio operate under a public-interest licensing regime that historically aimed to ensure balanced coverage.
- Conservatives dismantled many of those rules post-Reagan, but enforcement interest has resurged under the current FCC.
Equal-Time Reconsidered For Talk Shows
- A 2006 precedent gave shows like The Tonight Show some leeway, but the FCC recently signaled late-night and talk shows aren't automatically exempt from equal-time rules.
- That change could chill candidate appearances on entertainment programs to avoid triggering equal-time obligations.