According to a number of foreign media reports quoted by the World Wide Web, on September 17th, local time, US President Trump praised the suspension of the program "Jimmy Kimmel Live Show" hosted by American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, calling it "good news for the United States".
Earlier that day, American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) announced that Campbell had decided to discontinue its program "unlimited" due to controversial remarks on the Kork murder in the show. There were also reports that although the program was not cancelled, the time of return was unknown.
Trump tweeted on Twitter: “This is good news for the United States: The troubled Jimmy Campbell Show has been cancelled. Congratulations to ABC for finally gathering courage and doing what must be done.”
* advocates are sharply critical. Ari Cohen of the Individual Rights and Expression Foundation pointed out that ABC "cowered and succumbed under the pressure of the government, which will inevitably lead the administration to continue to blackmail and retaliate against media organizations that criticize Trump and his allies".
According to the analysis of the American media Variety, ABC and its parent company Disney's move to stop broadcasting programs may further intensify the partisan opposition in American society towards Kirk's assassination. "The activist is regarded as a hero by many conservatives, and prominent conservatives have demanded that all voices that criticize his work be silenced-however veiled-while liberals have disputed Kirk's position, pointing out that he has taken many extreme postures," the media commented.
Federal Communications Commission threatens withdrawal of license
Jimmy Campbell Live Show is also translated as "Jimmy Chicken Show", a late-night talk show broadcast on ABC, premiered on January 26, 2003.
In fact, on the day Kirk was shot and killed, Kimmel wrote on the social platform Instagram: "Can we take a break from angry accusations for a day and jointly admit that shooting others is terrible and cruel? On behalf of my family, I would like to express my condolences to the Kirk family and express my concern to all children, parents and innocent people who have become victims of senseless gun violence."
However, in the opening monologue of the program on the evening of 15th, Kimmel first hinted that Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused of shooting Kirk last week, was related to Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) campaign. He said, "The MAGA gang desperately tried to portray the child who killed Kirk as someone who wasn't on their side, and tried their best to score political points from it."
Kimmel also said that Trump's reaction to Kirk's death was "not at all like an adult mourning the murder of his so-called friend". He also criticized Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for handling the investigation of this case "like a child who has never read a book is talking nonsense to finish an oral report".
The remarks drew fierce criticism from conservatives, including Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A few hours before ABC announced the suspension of broadcasting, Carr warned that if local broadcasters in the United States continued to broadcast the program, they might face the risk of fines or even license revocation.
Carr was nominated by Trump as one of the five FCC commissioners in 2017, and was appointed chairman after Trump took office for the second time. Previously, he served as the agency's general counsel and was responsible for writing content involving the Federal Communications Commission for the "Plan 2025" launched by the right-wing conservative think tank Heritage Foundation. Carr wrote at the time that the institution had reached "a moment in urgent need of reform".
Some analysts argue that Carl’s threat should have been ineffective. U.S. law explicitly prohibits the FCC from exercising “the right to censor” or interfering with “the right to freedom of speech” unless there is a “news misrepresentation” in which radio news agencies deliberately broadcast false reports (the clause is rarely cited).
Hours after Carl threatened, U.S. local TV operator Nexstar suddenly declared Camor’s remarks “unacceptable”.Nexstar President Andrew Alford said in a statement that Camor’s remarks did not represent the values of the company’s service group.
It is worth noting that Nexstar Group is trying to acquire Tegna Television Broadcasting Company, one of its main competitors, for US $6.2 billion, and this merger transaction requires explicit approval from the FCC.
Without the broadcast channels of about 200 TV stations owned by Nexstar (covering 39% of the U.S. market), Kimmel's program ratings will suffer heavy losses, and he will not be able to continue to get investment from advertisers. Shortly after Nexstar announced its decision, Disney and its ABC announced that they would stop broadcasting the program indefinitely.
For the loyal audience and production team of "Jimmy Chicken Show", the stop news was suddenly.On the afternoon of the 17th local time, the Cambor team was still busy for the follow-up program, the stop shocked Hollywood's many advertisers, producers and others, and the audience was too late.
Outside the Hollywood Theatre, some audiences ran in line to wait for more than an hour before being told the recording was cancelled. A couple went on vacation from Virginia to Los Angeles to watch the recording of the show, and they called ABC’s decision “absurd.”
Critics: Broadcast stops are worse than McCarthyism
After ABC announced its decision to stop broadcasting, Trump suggested that NBC should follow ABC's way of handling Cameroon's program, suspending the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show and Seth Mayer's Late Night Show.
Trump posted on his social platform "Real Social": "Good news from America: the Jimmy Kimmel show with dismal ratings has been cancelled! Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what it has to do. Jimmy Kimmel has no talent, and his ratings are not even as good as colbert's (if possible). Now there are only two outright losers, Jimmy and Seth of fake news NBC, whose ratings are equally bad. Go NBC!!! "
In July, Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS) announced that it would no longer broadcast Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show. While CBS insisted that it was “a purely financial decision” to stop broadcasting, the decision raised speculation around the world, given that Colbert had publicly criticized the station’s offer of so-called “huge bribes” to Trump before the announcement was released. At the time, Trump also praised the decision to stop broadcasting and announced on social media that “hearing Jimmy Campbell was next.”
Anna Gomez, FCC Commissioner at the time of Biden, said: “The unforgivable political violence of individual extremists should never be used as a pretext for widening the scope of censorship and control.”
Democrat, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer condemned ABC’s decision, saying “The United States should have been a stronghold for freedom of speech.All political spectra should speak out to stop what is happening in Cameroon, which is about democratic protection.”
Trade unions in the entertainment industry representing writers and musicians also condemned the practices of ABC and FCC. Tino Gagliardi, president of the American and Canadian Federation of Musicians, said in a statement: "It's simple: Trump's Federal Communications Commission identified disliked remarks and threatened ABC with extreme retaliation. This is national censorship, which is happening in the United States rather than a distant country."
In a joint statement, the West American Writers’ Union said: “The right to express ideas, to argue with each other, and even to be offended, is the core essence of a free nation and should not be deprived of violence, abuse of governmental power, or corporate cowardice.”
CNBC reported that Kimmel became the latest media person to be countered for publicly commenting on Kirk's assassination. Microsoft National Broadcasting Corporation (MSNBC) fired political analyst Matthew Dodd last week for saying in a live broadcast that "hate thoughts lead to hate speech, which in turn leads to hate actions". Karen Atia, a columnist of the Washington Post, said that she was fired from the newspaper for pointing out that there were "racial double standards" in social media's response to Kirk's murder.
"Variety" wrote that Disney's decision to stop broadcasting Kimmel's program highlights the fact that traditional media companies have become scared when the White House and the Federal Communications Commission take speech encirclement and legal countermeasures against individual reports. Recently, Trump has sued ABC News and CBS News for the comments of ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos and the clip of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in 60 Minutes. The companies agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle even though experts believe the lawsuits are weak in evidence.
Christopher anders, director of the * and Technology Department of the American Civil Liberties Union, pointed out in a statement: "Jimmy Kimmel has become the latest target of the Trump administration's unconstitutional plan to silence critical voices and control the audio-visual content of the American people. ABC and its largest affiliated station owner bowed to threats and just met the demands of the FCC chairman appointed by Trump by stopping the Kimmel program indefinitely. It's worse than McCarthyism. "