The president of the United States now decides what airs on late-night television
On Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel announced that his interview with James Talarico, the Democrat running for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, would not air on ABC, citing threats from President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against his show. The interview went to YouTube instead, and ABC declined to comment.
The justification from the FCC, run by the Trump administration, is that talk shows must abide by “fair time” rule for political candidates. But call it what it is, it’s blatantly obvious interference in free speech.
Of course, it’s yet another move closer to authoritarianism policies, one that is concerning and should be condemned.
But what’s even more concerning is that as Trump has sought to undermine democratic norms and institutions in America in years prior, he had at least attempted to provide a thinly veiled justification for his actions. Now, it’s callous, uncaring, and so blatant that it seriously begs the question as to whether he, or anyone else in his administration, even cares to cover it up.
Donald Trump undermining democracy is nothing new. January 6th and the Iran War, among others, prove that. It’s terrifyingly normalized and yet still, going after freedom of speech in such a public way really does demonstrate his political intentions.
In Trump’s America, those who don’t bend the knee, suffer his wrath.
Granted, late night television is clearly an archaic, obsolete, and declining medium. But that neither justifies his actions, nor does it bode well for newer forms of media. This precedent could, for example, enable Trump to attack new media such as content creators. If there’s no guardrails, which it may well look to be, than this certainly won’t stop at Kimmel.
Maybe everyday Americans won’t feel the sting from Trump’s latest impingement on their constitutional freedoms — something American’s boast about all the time — but it’s so clearly indicative of American political culture that this is permissible in any form.
Sure, Trump has becoming more erratic in recent time, and his threats may be more serious now than in years prior — but that clearly wasn’t the primary motivation.
It was about money; it’s always about money.
American media is so obviously engrained with a profit-motive that news itself isn’t designed necessarily to reach objective “truths,” it’s generated as much money as humanely possible.
In a rather sickening way, there’s almost a Machiavellian justification as to why this occurs. The rational minded economic decision-making is averse to risk that may compromise the bottom line. Fighting back against Trump would have done so, so they caved.
Canada is by no means immune to this either. Many of our media companies are owned by the same American conglomerates that’d happily cater to Trump’s authoritarian policies. Assuming Canadians are immune to this risk is naïve.
It’s unsettling to watch the American people lose their right to freely express their political opinions, and it leaves a rather unsettling thought.
For as much as Trump may ostensibly claim to oppose autocracies — such as China and Russia — to fight for freedom; a disturbing parallel is emerging.
They too don’t allow for the freedom of expression.
— Journal Editorial Board
Tags
Censorship, late night tv, Trump administration
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