The Dispatch Podcast The FCC’s Fight with Stephen Colbert
34 snips
Feb 20, 2026 
Megan McArdle, columnist offering libertarian-leaning takes on regulation and free speech, and David French, opinion and legal commentator, join a spirited discussion. They tackle the FCC’s changing equal-time guidance and how broadcast rules could be weaponized. They also debate the plausibility and risks of military strikes on Iran and whether returning to the moon is worth the cost.
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Equal-Time Is A Dinosaur Rule
- The FCC's equal-time guidance revives a 1934 broadcast-era regime that assumes government ownership of airwaves and is ill-suited to today's media environment.
- David French and others call it a "dinosaur" rule prone to selective enforcement and intimidation rather than meaningful regulation.
Regulatory Power Can Suppress Speech
- The panel argues this administration is unusually hostile to free speech by using regulatory levers to intimidate dissenting media.
- David French warns selective enforcement creates European-style speech regulation risks in the U.S.
Repeal Obsolete Broadcast Rules
- Remove obsolete rules like equal-time and reconsider other broadcast-era regulations rather than rely on norms alone.
- Megan McArdle urges curbing government powers because they will be abused regardless of current partisan control.
