Trump and FCC Chair Look to Tighten the Screw on Other Shows

TIME

ABC’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted accusations of censorship by the Trump Administration after the decision appeared to have been influenced by FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who said that “licensed broadcasters” should “push back” and refuse to air Kimmel’s show lest they face “the possibility of fines or license revocations from the FCC.”  ABC’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted accusations of censorship by the Trump Administration after the decision appeared to have been influenced by FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who said that “licensed broadcasters” should “push back” and refuse to air Kimmel’s show lest they face “the possibility of fines or license revocations from the FCC.”  But the Administration only appears more emboldened to pursue what experts have described as a media suppression strategy, and Carr may already have his next target.

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00:00There's a very concerted effort to try to lie to the American people about the nature,

00:06as you indicated, of one of the most significant newsworthy public interest acts that we've seen

00:14in a long time. And what appears to be an action, appears to be an action by Jimmy Kimmel to play

00:22into that narrative that this was somehow a MAGA or Republican motivated person. If that's what

00:31happened here with his conduct, that is really, really sick. I've been very clear from the moment

00:36that I have become chairman of the FCC, I want to reinvigorate the public interest. What people

00:42don't understand is that the broadcasters, and you've gotten this right, are entirely different

00:46than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC,

00:53and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. And we can get into some

00:58ways that we've been trying to reinvigorate the public interest and some changes that we've seen.

01:02But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

01:07These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's

01:15going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.

01:17Well, you know, when a late-night host is on network television, there is a licensing.

01:23I'll give you an example. I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me. I get 97%

01:30negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states, popular, but I won everything.

01:36And if they're 97% against, they give you only bad publicity or press. I mean, they're getting

01:46a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It would be up to Brendan

01:52Carr. I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. He's a patriot. He loves our country, and he's

01:57a tough guy. So we'll have to see. But when you think about this, 97% of the stories are

02:05opposed to me, and yet I win easily the election. It's pretty amazing when you think of it.

02:10That shows they have no credibility.

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