紐時賞析／美FCC又盯上深夜節目

美國時任總統拜登（左）2024年2月在紐約錄製「塞斯邁爾斯深夜秀」時，和主持人塞斯邁爾斯（右）交談。紐約時報

F.C.C. Targets Late-Night TV By Enforcing Rules on Politics

美FCC又盯上深夜節目

The Trump administration is opening a new front against late-night comedy, announcing plans to enforce long-dormant rules on appearances by political candidates on network talk shows.

川普政府把矛頭對準深夜喜劇節目，宣佈重啓那些長期沒人理的舊規定，要求談話性節目邀請政治候選人時必須遵守相關規範。

Under new guidance released Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission warned that entertainment-oriented talk shows carried on local television stations were required to offer candidates vying for the same office equal airtime.

根據週三公佈的新指引，聯邦通訊委員會要求地方電視臺播出的娛樂性談話節目，必須給競選同一職位的候選人提供一樣的播出時間。

The guidance was clearly aimed at the late-night hosts who frequently anger President Donald Trump — Jimmy Kimmel of ABC, Stephen Colbert of CBS and Seth Meyers of NBC — and have in turn drawn scrutiny from FCC Chair Brendan Carr. But it would also cover daytime talk shows including another Trump target, “The View.”

這項指引顯然衝着那些經常惹惱總統川普的深夜脫口秀主持人，如美國廣播公司的吉米金莫、哥倫比亞廣播公司的史蒂芬柯貝爾，及美國國家廣播公司的塞斯邁爾斯。他們也因此受到聯邦通訊委員會主席卡爾盯上。這項指引也涵蓋日間脫口秀，包括川普的另一個批評目標「觀點」。

The guidance addresses long-standing conservative complaints that the late-night shows have tilted too far to the left and are far more likely to have Democrats than Republicans as guests. It is in keeping with Carr’s yearlong campaign to use old and largely unenforced media regulations, known as the “public interest standard,” to crack down on the major networks for perceived bias.

這項指引迴應保守派長期以來的怨言，他們抱怨深夜脫口秀立場過於左傾，且邀請民主黨人上節目的機率遠高於共和黨人。這項指引與卡爾1年來的行動相符，他試圖使用老舊且基本上未被執行的「公共利益標準」，打擊他認爲立場偏頗的主要電視網。

In a statement, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, called the new guidance “an escalation in this FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech.” She added: “Broadcasters should not feel pressured to water down, sanitize or avoid critical coverage out of fear of regulatory retaliation.”

聯邦通訊委員會唯一的民主黨籍委員葛梅茲透過聲明批評，新指引是「該委員會持續審查與控制言論行動的升級版」。她補充說：「電視臺不應害怕被監管行爲報復，而被迫淡化、粉飾或避免進行批判性報導。」

A conservative group that has led in bringing formal complaints at the FCC, the Center for American Rights, hailed the FCC announcement. Media experts on both sides of the ideological spectrum said it would make it easier for the group, and others, to bring complaints against the late-night hosts and “The View.”

一直帶頭向聯邦通訊委員會投訴的保守派團體「美國權利中心」對這公告很滿意。不同意識形態陣營的媒體專家表示，這將使該團體和其他人更容易針對深夜脫口秀節目主持人和「觀點」找麻煩。

The guidance involves a “public interest” requirement that stations give rival candidates for office equal opportunities to buy ad time and appear on their airwaves. “Bona fide” news programming such as the evening newscasts is exempt from those rules.

這項指引涉及對「公共利益」的要求，即電視臺必須給競選同個公職的競爭對手相等的機會購買廣告時段，並在節目露面。真正的新聞節目如晚間新聞，則不受此規範約束。

“This major announcement from the FCC should stop one-sided left-wing entertainment shows masquerading as ‘bona fide news,’” Daniel Suhr, the president of the Center for American Rights, said on the social platform X.

美國權利中心主席蘇爾在社羣平臺X表示：「聯邦通訊委員會的重大公告應該能遏止那些一面倒的左派娛樂節目僞裝成『真正的新聞節目』」。

文／Jim Rutenberg，譯／羅方妤

延伸閱讀