“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said on the right-wing political commentator Benny Johnson’s podcast Wednesday.
He was talking, of course, about Jimmy Kimmel. Sinclair and Nexstar, media companies that operate affiliate ABC stations, got the message. They pulled Kimmel’s show mere hours after Carr’s comments.
(Last month, Nexstar said it planned a $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna, another local TV operator. The deal would require FCC approval.)
No matter what you think about what Kimmel said, free speech doesn’t work like this. Free speech doesn’t mean you’re free to say anything, just so long as it doesn’t offend me. It doesn’t mean the side in power gets to decide what free speech is and isn’t. Not in a democracy, at least.
This point appeared lost on our president. “They give me only bad publicity, or press,” he said of broadcasters Thursday as he flew back from Britain aboard Air Force One. “I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
JUST EIGHT months ago, in his second inaugural address, the same president said this: “I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.” Once shunned by social media platforms, Trump was out to end a “cancel culture” he saw as unfairly silencing conservative voices.
“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents,” he said.
But what is the suspension of Kimmel, the cancellation of Colbert, the rescinding of funds for public media, the constant lawsuits against media companies, the banning of the Associated Press from the White House’s press room, the threats to revoke broadcast licenses—what is it all but government censorship?
“I may not agree with what you say,” goes a famous saying, “but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Maybe not anymore. Carr’s claim of acting in the “public interest” doesn’t fool anyone. This is partisan. This is about vengeance.
“Cancel culture” looks to be alive and well; now, it’s just the other side doing it.
RETIRED TV host David Letterman put it well when he said Thursday that “the institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show.”
He’s right. Of all the things that need fixing, our government is busy targeting comedians?
It’s perhaps even more distressing to see how quickly ABC, CBS and other companies have acquiesced. What happened to journalistic integrity? In an endless search for bigger corporate profits, it was the first thing to go.
The self-censure of these major media companies is an argument for the importance of diverse media ownership. America is well-served by small, independent outlets that serve local communities. A free society needs us. It’s not about having the “right” voice – that will always be up for debate. The First Amendment means lots of voices. Even when we disagree.
“We all see where this is going, correct?” Letterman said Wednesday. “It’s managed media. And it’s no good, it’s silly, it’s ridiculous, and you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
