I guess they can, since they emailed the following and called it “breaking political news”. The amazing thing is they were/are treating this announcement as serious political news-
POLITICO Breaking News
Comedian Stephen Colbert announced on “The Colbert Report” that he is exploring a presidential run in South Carolina, and made it legal by handing control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart in the opening segment of Thursday night’s show. “I am proud to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for president of the United States of America of South Carolina,” Colbert said during the Thursday evening, several hours before airtime on Comedy Central.
For more information… http://www.politico.com