The day after ABC “indefinitely” pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air, some on the right have suggested that the developments are wholly unrelated to government censorship since the government wasn’t directly involved in what transpired. This was, the argument goes, an example of a private company punishing an employee, and nothing more.
It’s a difficult position to take seriously.
After Donald Trump spent months targeting Kimmel, the president’s Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, appeared on a far-right podcast and referenced his agency’s role in granting broadcast licenses. Referring specifically to Kimmel’s monologue, Carr added, “When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
It was around that point when Nexstar Media Group — which owns television stations nationwide and wants the FCC’s approval on a multibillion-dollar merger effort — announced that it would stop airing Kimmel’s show. ABC acted soon after, prompting Carr to celebrate and take some victory laps.
Yes, Kimmel is an employee of a private corporation, but to deny the existence of government pressure in this week’s developments is to overlook the relevant details.
What’s more, there’s no reason to believe that Carr is done. As the public learned of the news about Kimmel on Wednesday night, Carr appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program — a symbolically significant choice, given Hannity’s alliance with the Trump White House — described the pulling of Kimmel’s show as an “important turning point.” The FCC chairman added, “There’s more work to go.”
A day later, he elaborated on a possible next target. Politico reported:
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr questioned on Thursday whether ABC’s ‘The View’ should be subject to review from the agency, making the daytime talk show Carr’s latest target in his scrutiny of television programs that have been critical of President Donald Trump.
Appearing on a different far-right podcast, Carr questioned whether “The View” — a talk show in which Trump is often criticized — met the standard of a “bona fide” news program.
“I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View,’ and some of these other programs that you have, still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore are exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place,” he told conservative commentator Scott Jenning and his listeners.
I won’t pretend to know where this is headed. Maybe Carr was just floating a random idea that he doesn’t intend to act on. Maybe “The View” and its hosts will feel a chilling effect. Maybe corporate interests will intervene and put the future of the show in jeopardy. Time will tell.
But it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Trump’s FCC chair specifically singled out a talk show that the president has long hated. Indeed, the Republican is on record using the word “degenerates” to describe the hosts of “The View,” adding that he sees the hosts as “low IQ people.”