BY DAN RATHER AND TEAM STEADY
(credit: Getty Images).
The message to broadcasters from the Trump administration is simple: Do as we say, or pay the consequences. We are now in the realm of comedians being a threat to the president’s ego and our freedom of speech.
It is time to pay special attention. If the past eight and a half months have taught us anything, it’s that it can get worse … and this week it did. Freedom of speech, guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution, is quickly being dismantled by the current administration. But this is about more than free speech, or lack of it. It is about the rich getting richer.
The indefinite preemption of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is not just a case of the president and the MAGA-verse disliking something Jimmy Kimmel said and putting pressure on Disney, the parent company of ABC, to reprimand the host. But let’s start there.
In his opening monologue on Monday, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
By Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr was out for blood. He went on ultra-right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson’s show, insisting that Kimmel was spreading misinformation and threatening to revoke ABC’s broadcast license.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead,” Carr said.
The media company Nexstar — remember that name — owns more than two dozen ABC affiliates. The company took exception to Kimmel’s remarks and said they would “replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.” Really? One joke?
Soon after, the ABC Television Network decided to pull Kimmel’s program indefinitely. Within hours, Kimmel was off the air.
Others in the media were dismissed for comments made around the Kirk shooting. MSNBC fired commentator Matthew Dowd, a longtime critic of Trump, for saying, “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions.” Though he quickly apologized, saying he didn’t mean to imply Kirk was to blame, he was fired immediately.
Even more troubling is the case of Washington Post opinion editor Karen Attiah. She was fired on Monday because of a series of social media posts highlighting Kirk’s own comments about gun control and race. One post included a quote from Kirk, in which he said on camera — so there is no question about its veracity — that several prominent Black women, including Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, did “not have (the) brain processing power to be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot.”
“As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction. Now, I am the one being silenced — for doing my job.” Attiah wrote on Substack.
The American people were not exempt from the Trump administration’s trampling of the First Amendment. On Monday, when JD Vance sat in for Kirk on his eponymous podcast, Vance said, “When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer.” Termination for self-expression is a new low.
Should you think that is all just about the suppression of free speech, you’d be wrong. First, the FCC’s Carr gloated, actually gloated, about Kimmel’s preemption. To one reporter seeking comment, he sent a clip of a scene from the television show “The Office” of two main characters dancing. To another reporter he simply responded with a smiling emoji and refused further comment. All this signaling that there was more at play.
Back in July, CBS parent company Paramount announced that “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” would not be renewed, despite being the most watched show on late night. Paramount claimed it was for financial reasons, but it is widely believed that Colbert is losing his show because of his jokes about Trump.
The president himself added fuel to the theory when he posted, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
Trump was overtly teeing up Kimmel’s ouster. Kimmel’s comments about Kirk were the perfect excuse at the perfect time. Because Kimmel’s dismissal is about more than just silencing a critic — it is about corporate greed, media control, and weaponizing regulatory agencies.
Don’t forget, Trump is suing The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for billions. He’s settled suits with ABC and CBS for millions.
Remember Nexstar, the media company that threatened to replace “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with other programming? It’s trying to add to its record number of local television stations around the country. Nexstar, which owns 39% of all U.S. stations, is in talks to acquire Tenga and its TV stations for $6.2 billion. If the deal goes through, Nexstar would solidify its status as the biggest owner of stations in the country. Guess who needs to approve the purchase? Brendan Carr’s FCC.
Historically, the FCC would not allow one company to own so many stations, to have that much reach. But, as we know, historic norms mean nothing to the Trump administration.
Carr said the FCC “is committed to ending all of the rules and regulations that are no longer necessary.” Necessary to prevent media monopolies from depleting local news coverage, and diminishing a diversity of viewpoints.
Disney is also in the middle of brokering a big deal, this one with the NFL. No surprise, It too requires regulatory approvals.
The seeming overreaction of Nexstar, applauded by Carr as “doing the right thing,” and Disney’s capitulation by its swift removal of a popular host now make more sense. Jimmy Kimmel is the collateral damage of multibillion-dollar deals and a vengeful president.
Trump’s systematic takedown of the freedom of speech, one of the bedrocks of our democracy, is horrifying in and of itself. If free speech only applied to ideas one likes, it would never have made it into the Constitution. But the fact that his assault is tied to deals to make rich people richer and consolidate media power makes it one of the most odious transgressions of Trump’s eight-and-a-half month reign.
A handful of corporations owning a majority of news outlets and other interests was always a bad idea, a collision waiting to happen. Truly independent journalism is vital for the survival of our democracy. Autocracy is only an insult away.
NYA Thanks Dan Rather and Team Steady!