Our Constitution’s First Amendment provides that government may not abridge “the freedom of speech, or of the press.” That constitutional right is only as good as the people who practice under its shield and the government that either respects it or wants to tear it down.
Spineless TV executives have again cowered in the face of criticism, and the federal government is actively working to tear it down.
Free speech in America is in peril.
The latest example is late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. On Monday night, he said this to his national audience of about 2 million people about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, a popular right-wing activist/podcaster: ““The MAGA Gang (is) 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.”
Some may find this offensive, or even inaccurate. But that has never been — and never should be — the standard by which the speech is judged by our government.
The FCC’s own consumer guide states, “The limitations of the FCC’s power to restrict or ban speech begin with the First Amendment …” But that did not provide pause for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to suggest the agency would suspend the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates if they didn’t dump Kimmel’s show.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said in a podcast interview, sounding more like a mob boss than a regulator. It is almost certainly the case that Carr and those most aggrieved by Kimmel’s words don’t regularly watch his show.
Nexstar Media Group, owner the ABC affiliate in Syracuse, said it would preempt Kimmel’s show because “we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views or values of the local communities in which we are located.” This would suggest this Texas media corporation speaks for Central New York, and that WSYR-TV’s viewers share this Orwellian view. Such is the problem with faceless owners who care more about protecting their bottom line than the constitutional principles that undergird their business.
It also so happens that Nexstar needs the FCC to relax ownership limits so that it can complete its $6.2 billion acquisition of a competitor, Tegna. So don’t expect pushback from its Central New York leadership.
Sinclair Broadcasting, owner of the CBS and NBC affiliates in Syracuse, was next to drop Kimmel. Sinclair also is lobbying the FCC for deregulation.
Predictably, ABC owner Disney bent the knee to Carr/Trump and suspended Kimmel “indefinitely.” This follows the network’s settlement of a baseless lawsuit Trump filed against George Stephanopoulos. There is likely no bottom to ABC/Disney’s prostration to Trump, as it seeks the government’s approval of ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network. Of equal embarrassment was CBS’s settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview on the eve of a corporate merger needing government approval. Trump’s claims were frivolous, First Amendment experts said, but the networks settled to get back into the president’s good graces. The president took credit for CBS’s decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s late-night show — and publicly hoped Kimmel would be next.
Government censorship is prohibited by the First Amendment. Punishing speech that you disagree with is antithetical to the free marketplace of ideas envisioned by our Founding Fathers. The Constitution protects speech equally, whether it offends or enlightens. That includes hate speech, a fact Attorney General Pam Bondi conveniently ignored when she made vague threats to criminally prosecute people who criticized Kirk. As it is, people are losing their jobs over their opinions, in a modern-day version of McCarthyism.
Trump also is waging a campaign of intimidation against news organizations. He is suing the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times for billions of dollars over their well-sourced reporting, respectively, on the Jeffrey Epstein birthday book and the sources of Trump’s wealth. We can only hope the Journal and the Times don’t fold as easily as the TV networks did. Both lawsuits would have been more serious if written in colored crayon.
But the message has been sent. News organizations without the resources to fight even a frivolous lawsuit might think twice before publishing material critical of Trump. No one should be above criticism — especially not the president of the United States.
It is the height of hypocrisy for Trump, Carr and the right-wing echo chamber at Fox News to advocate a crackdown on free speech from the left while complaining for years that the media was suppressing viewpoints from the right. It should be embarrassing that those that decried “cancel culture” only a few short months ago now are begging for more cancel culture.
What does this mean to you?
Beware of the categorical purity tests for acceptable speech. Social media is a cesspool of disinformation and stupidity. Don’t be a snowflake and melt in the face of disagreeable opinions. Change the channel. Ignore what you can’t stand and support media that provide what you need to be an informed citizen.
Hold the government accountable for tearing down your constitutional right to see and read all kinds of speech. Deny your time and treasure from those who abandon free speech.
About Syracuse.com editorials
Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board. Our opinions are independent of news coverage. Read our mission statement. Members of the editorial board are Tim Kennedy, Trish LaMonte and Marie Morelli.
To respond to this editorial: Submit a letter or commentary to letters@syracuse.com. Read our submission guidelines.
If you have questions about the Opinions & Editorials section, contact Marie Morelli, editorial/opinion lead, at mmorelli@syracuse.com