Surrendering to MAGA Isn’t Just a Broadcast Media Problem

Under threat of imprisonment, torture, and death, Dmitry Muratov and the staff of the Russian dissident newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, continued exposing Vladimir Putin’s corruption and violent abuses of human rights. Even as their fellow journalists were manhandled into dark and danky cells, bankrupted, or “disappeared” from the waking world, they continued to report, comment, and publish.  

Novaya Gazeta strikes a humiliating contrast with the American press, as the leading journalistic institutions of the free world have subordinated themselves to the Trump regime out of cowardice, greed, or a combination of both. Motives aren’t nearly as important as the chilling effect of each surrender on dissent, critical thought, and the First Amendment.  

CBS News seems close to installing Bari Weiss, the editor and founder of conservative-leaning The Free Press, who recently gave a slobbering interview to Amy Coney Barrett, as its “bias monitor.” Under pressure from the Paramount-Skydance merger, the network of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. More recently, MSNBC fired Matt Dowd, who helped lead George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, for expressing “offensive” views about Charlie Kirk in the immediate aftermath of his murder.  

No act was so craven in its capitulation as the shocking, indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel from ABC. On his September 15th program, Kimmel speculated that Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s killer, was “MAGA,” which the evidence does not support, and opined that the White House was attempting to take advantage of the awful crime, which is inarguably correct.  

Three days later, the Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, appeared on a far-right podcast to issue a threat straight out of the script of a cliche-ridden mafioso movie, a point even Senator Ted Cruz brought to light. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said, before promising to review ABC’s broadcast license agreement if the network doesn’t change its ways. By the end of the business day, after affiliates seeking regulatory approval for mergers added fuel to the fire, ABC announced the indefinite suspension of the late-night host, electing to do things the easy way for profit, and the hard way for democracy.  

Republican parrots immediately launched into their defense, insisting that ABC, and its parent company, Disney, merely made a “business decision” in the interest of its “fiduciary responsibility.” Kimmel offended too many viewers, and therefore, would hurt the bottom line. Pretending as if the timing of the suspension with Carr’s ultimatum was a mere coincidence is absurd enough, but reporting from the Daily Beast confirmed that ABC executives initially supported Kimmel. They only reversed themselves after hearing the ultimatum from the commissioner of the FCC. A later report indicated that when Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, heard that Kimmel planned to dig in on his critique, he and ABC executives decided to suspend Kimmel indefinitely which is where things stand. 

Carr’s first response to the news was to share a popular meme of characters from the sitcom, The Office, celebrating with the “raise the roof” dance move. The world’s oldest democracy is now under the rule of malevolent 13-year-olds.  

While we’re on the subject of democracy, it appears as if it is on life support in a hospital under the authority of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. One of the most troubling lessons of the past eight months is the extent to which avaricious self-interest, short-term thinking, and apathy have made our society weak. Michel Foucault titled a series of lectures, “Society Must Be Defended.” Who is defending our society? 

The Fourth Estate is paralyzed, big law firms cave to Trump’s demands, and universities cut deals to save their federal funding. Even Trump-friendly Republicans are revealing how intimidation is the principal generator of obsequious submission. Indiana Governor Mike Braun recently explained his willingness to call a special legislative session to redistrict the congressional map in Republican favor, in the middle of the decade, with the self-damning admission, “If we try to drag our feet as a state on it, probably, we’ll have the consequences of not working with the Trump administration as tightly as we should.”  

ABC didn’t drag its feet. It leapt at the chance to demonstrate obedience to the thought police. The problem is not only timidity, but also media conglomeration. Nexstar, a media company owning 28 ABC-affiliated stations, is acquiring local media company, Tegna. The $6.2 billion merger requires FCC approval. The Kimmel debacle follows ABC settling a ridiculous lawsuit that Trump filed after George Stephanopoulos asserted that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping E. Jean Carroll (the jury found him liable for sexual assault), and firing journalist Terry Moran for tweeting that Stephen Miller is a “world-class hater.” It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that Nexstar, Disney, and ABC executives want to remain in Trump and Carr’s good graces, even if it means sacrificing an independent press and freedom of speech.  

In 1983, 50 companies controlled 90 percent of the U.S. broadcast media market. Now, it is down to six. In such a narrow landscape, conformity becomes a virtue. The recently deceased academic and media critic, Robert W. McChesney, summarized the crisis with the title of his study of corporate journalism, “Rich Media, Poor Democracy.”  

The expanding reach of the corporate octopus’s tentacles is likely why even the superstars of so-called “liberal Hollywood” have failed to defend their friend Jimmy Kimmel. George Clooney, who couldn’t raise his head fast enough to sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has remained silent since the Kimmel incident, is one particularly illustrative example of how cowardice is contagious.  

The White House’s assault on free speech is pitched as a necessary discouragement of “political violence,” a term that the mass media has appeared to just discover in the wake of Kirk’s murder. Even those dubious grounds crumble when one learns that most of those who have lost their jobs, including Kimmel, never celebrated the murder. They certainly did not advocate violence. They either criticized Kirk’s politics or those who used Kirk’s horrific killing to pursue their own agendas.  

Meanwhile, under a reasonable interpretation of the English language, the actions of ICE constitute “political violence”—raiding peaceful neighborhoods and places of business, abducting and assaulting immigrants (in some cases, American citizens) and holding them in allegedly abusive conditions without due process. Fourteen migrants have died in ICE detention facilities since the inauguration of Donald Trump.  

The Department of Homeland Security has advanced its attack on free speech, warning “the media and far left” to “stop the demonization of President Trump, his supporters, and DHS Law Enforcement.” Representative Jasmine Crockett, Illinois governor JB Pritzker, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are three officials the statement targets as guilty of “demonization.” One should reply to the admonition with the obvious question, “Or what?” 

The answer will determine to what extent Americans still live in a free society. Trump and Carr have both promised action against other television networks and personalities who display more critical thinking than the court jesters at Fox News.  

Another question: How much degradation will the American people tolerate?  

After the forced closure of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov said, “In Russia, political repression will continue against all opponents of the regime.” He added that his hope rested in the “people who see the world as a friend, not an enemy.”  

His words echo close to home.  

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