Trump’s FCC Threatens to Muzzle Disney/ABC for Being Politically Incorrect
Source: bleedingcool.com
How is this not an attempt to censor constitutionally protected free speech?
Make Orwell Fiction Again
Disney has fired back at Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its early review of ABC’s broadcast license, calling it a blatant attempt to “police” free speech and “retaliation” for comments by ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Disney: The administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs…It is a signal to every media company to accommodate the administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price.”
The FCC is investigating ABC’s decision not to broadcast Trump’s July 16 prime-time address on “election security,” in which Trump repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election. “I think that’s something that broadcasters should be carrying,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
NBC and CNN also did not carry Trump’s address. ABC did offer it on its streaming service.
Who Is This Brendan Carr?
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was a long-time FCC commissioner, having served in the first Trump regime under fellow conservative Ajit Pai. Then-Chairman Pai’s claim to fame was attempting to cancel “net neutrality,” the egalitarian concept that all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must treat all data, traffic, content, platforms, whatever, equally without preferential treatment for internet industry giants.
Jimmy Kimmel also commented on the First Lady. Source: msn.com
Now it seems Carr is making his own news. When ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel made impertinent (but non-threatening) remarks about the death of MAGA youth idol Charlie Kirk, Carr dangled the possibility of ABC losing its broadcasting license or at least suspending Kimmel from his popular show. Kimmel was indeed suspended. Channeling his inner mob boss, Carr famously told a podcast host, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Carr later walked back his remarks, saying he didn’t imply pulling ABC’s license if Kimmel wasn’t fired. But Carr wasn’t totally letting go: He called Kimmel’s remark “some of the sickest conduct possible” and insinuated that if Kimmel didn’t change his ways, “there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead…we may ultimately be called to be a judge on that.”
After a widespread backlash to the idea that ABC had unilaterally surrendered its mandate for free speech, Kimmel was reinstated.
ABC/Disney Accused of Discrimination
The FCC action advances Trump’s obsession that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are illegal…as if this were settled law enjoying widespread consensus. In its attacks on ABC and Disney, the FCC has imbued itself as a vanguard of law and order. Just read FCC’s comments on the ABC license docket: “[ABC] engaged in prohibited practices by hiring, promoting, compensating and/or providing workplace opportunities to people based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics in violation of federal nondiscrimination laws…” That’s an opinion, not fact.
If ABC were indeed practicing discrimination, one would think there would be an outcry from interested parties submitting comments on FCC’s ABC license docket. But according to TVTech, more than 100,000 comments have been received in the last 30 days, the vast majority of which were supportive of ABC stations (eight large-market ABC stations are in FCC’s crosshairs).
Brendan Carr.
Former FCC Chairmen Weigh in
One notable filing on the ABC license docket was a submission by six bipartisan former FCC chairmen. The group included Tom Wheeler (appointed by Barack Obama), Alfred Sikes (appointed by George H.W. Bush), and Mark Fowler and Dennis Patrick (both appointed by Ronald Reagan). Their filing characterized the FCC action as “a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution.”
The former FCC officials continued:
This renewal proceeding is the latest attack in a sustained campaign…of threatening legal sanctions against licensees whose speech President Trump dislikes…It is in fact an assault on free speech disguised as a regulatory process.
Source: daytimeconfidential.com
Free Speech
Free speech was once a unifying issue that attracted both ACLU liberals and libertarian conservatives. Both parties decried government as “big brother,” which pried into people’s bedrooms, offices, and politics. Both supported the proverbial “marketplace of ideas,” in which every opinion had equal value.
Those days seem to be gone. In this current partisan divide, conservatives have raged against “wokeness” and “cancel culture” while supporting the removal of disfavored books from public libraries and replacing historical accounts that make white people feel uncomfortable. Progressives on college campuses have combatively challenged curricula that don’t adhere to their values.
As conservative thought has knuckled under to MAGA, we apparently have a new standard. Donald Trump last year proclaimed that critical media coverage of him was “illegal.” “It’s no longer free speech,” Trump explained, “when 97 percent of stories are bad about a person.”
As usual, it’s all about Him him.
