US & Iran Plan To Meet Again, CBS: Colbert & Cooper, Social Media On Trial
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stephen Colbert says CBS blocked a political guest from his late-night show, adding to a wave of upheaval involving Anderson Cooper and corporate maneuvering at the network’s parent company.
And Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in a landmark trial testing whether social media companies can be held legally responsible for harming young users.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by James Hider, Pallavi Gogoi, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Simon-Laslo Janssen.
Our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) US & Iran Plan To Meet Again
(05:26) CBS: Colbert & Cooper
(09:49) Social Media On Trial
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Iranians are ending 40 days of mourning for people killed in protests. |
| 0:06.0 | Authorities are watching intently while also negotiating with the United States. |
| 0:10.6 | What do those talks mean for protesters and the world? |
| 0:13.4 | I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steve Inskeep. |
| 0:15.2 | And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.8 | Late show host Stephen Colbert has spent two days publicly debating his network. |
| 0:25.4 | He says CBS blocked him from broadcasting an interview with the Democrat in response to |
| 0:29.5 | government threats. |
| 0:30.7 | And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this. |
| 0:37.3 | How, if at all, does the CBS move connect |
| 0:39.5 | with its political interests? Also, how does Mark Zuckerberg defend social media platforms against |
| 0:44.5 | the charge that they're addictive? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:53.4 | This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. |
| 1:00.6 | You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. |
| 1:06.0 | Be smart, get Wise. |
| 1:08.1 | Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's Apply. This message comes from |
| 1:14.1 | CBC. Do you want kids? The mother of all questions is questioned in personally creation myth. |
| 1:21.5 | Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Latif from Radio Lab. Our goal with each episode is to make you think, |
| 1:30.8 | how did I live this long and not know that? Radio Lab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know. |
| 1:37.6 | Listen, wherever you get podcasts. We are following two timelines of the story in Iran. |
| 1:43.4 | One is a schedule of talks with the United States. |
| 1:46.5 | Negotiators met yesterday and talk of meeting again. The other is a timeline deeply rooted in |
... |
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