Wednesday, September 17, 2025

The 50’s Blacklist Is Back

What 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."
What the network said:
"Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located.

Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decisid on to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue."
This is how the Hollywood blacklist started.
I think the answer is that the government directly threatening ABC to force a firing would be a First Amendment violation but ABC being cowardly assholes complying in advance in their moronic quest to satisfy Trump is not.
Yup. That's how it worked 70 years ago.
/2 However, I think ABC firing Kimmel following Carr’s threats makes a plausible case for a First Amendment violation. It should survive a motion to dismiss at least.
Almost certainly. But you can’t sue your way back into employment. (Disney could challenge FCC actions in court, and probably prevail. But cowardice wins.)

Ah! (See, also, comments)
Nexstar is currently awaiting approval from the FCC and FTC on a $6.2 Billion acquisition of TEGNA.
Always remember Deep Throat’s advice: “Follow the money.” You’ll never go wrong. 

And now I know why NextStar has a dog in this fight:
Jennings: Kimmel is still free to speak. He just isn’t necessarily free to do it on ABC which obviously made a business decision….

You had Nexstar which owns a bunch of ABC affiliates, saying they were mad about what he did.

Phillip: Nexstar has business before the FCC. They have a deal to purchase another TV group for $6.2 billion. In order to do that, they need Carr to say yes, you may own more TV stations than is legally allowed right now
And why Carr threatened broadcast licenses. Networks don’t have such licenses; affiliates do.

Last word:
FoxNews is on cable. They aren’t on the public airwaves (equivalent to a podcast, essentially). They don’t need a broadcast license.
at

2 comments:

  1. jim, some guy in iowa8:48 PM

    not just McCarthyism, but gangster capitalism: there's a proposed merger afoot, and this should help grease the skids

    ReplyDelete