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I was deeply troubled by the recent firing of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC and the earlier firing of Steven Colbert by CBS, both ostensibly at the urging of the Trump administration because of something they said on their evening shows. Outrage was immediate, significant, and fully justified, especially when FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC's "The View" only three days later. Success breeds more attempts.
This interference, for political reasons, into broadcast content places us directly on the slippery slope to government approved language - which is expressly prohibited by the First Amendment of the Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
It has long been true that corporations have no backbone when someone threatens their profits or, worse, their stock price. The FCC is using the threat of cancelling broadcast licenses as their leverage to control what people can say in media. As broadcast conglomerates get bigger, they get more and more risk averse - and much more susceptible to political leverage. Though the Constitution prohibits it, that does not seem to prevent the government from making the attempt. Nor prevent media corporations like Disney and CBS from instantly caving to political pressure.
The cancellations of Jimmy Kimmel and Steven Colbert is a direct threat to all of us. We make our living telling stories with words and pictures. We do our best to present the truth as we know it, and share it with the widest possible audience. The chilling effect of the government now telling us what we can say, and what we can't, is indescribable. There is no value in any media that simply parrots what the government wants to hear.
This is a subject where we cannot remain silent. Edmund Burke once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” Government control over freedom of speech violates the Constitution and the very framework upon which our own work is built. We must protest.
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