Free speech and community journalism

The recent preemption and television broadcast restoration of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC should remind us to be clear-headed about our right to free speech in the United States of America in 2025, and in which sorts of media free speech is even possible.

As Hamline University political science professor and author David Schultz observed, both Kimmel’s brief suspension and the imminent cancelation of The Late Show on CBS with Stephen Colbert reveal first and foremost “the overwhelming grip of corporate, for-profit media on our public life.”

Much of the reporting on Kimmel’s suspension completely omits mention of a $6.2 billion merger that ABC affiliate broadcaster Nexstar plans with Tegna — a merger which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which revealed some of its own merger and acquisitions plans earlier this summer, announced Kimmel’s suspension on the stations they manage only hours after FCC chair Brendan Carr publicly condemned parts of one of Kimmel’s monologues and insinuated reprisals.

Some consumers responded to Kimmel’s suspension by participating in a boycott and subscription cancelation campaign against Disney, ABC’s parent company. Disney’s stock market value sank, its market capitalization reportedly falling by $1.4 billion overnight, by $4.2 billion by the end of the week, and by $6.4 billion toward the end of the following week. Financial analysts remain optimistic about the company’s future nevertheless.

ABC suspended Kimmel’s show Sept. 17. By Sept. 22, parent company Disney issued a statement that Kimmel’s show would return. Sinclair initially declined to air Kimmel’s show but announced Sept. 26 they too would bring it back. Nexstar issued a statement to the same effect the same day.

Few of us are so myopically partisan as to accept the notion that these programs are literal arms of the Democratic Party. But still fewer of us should be fooled into thinking that what can be expressed within media markets which are 90% controlled by six corporations — Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, SONY, Paramount Skydance and News Corporation — is not strictly censored and controlled according to profit interests largely shared by those same corporations.

“More than half a century ago, CBS cancelled the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour because the comedians were too willing to confront Vietnam and politics head on,” wrote Schultz. “The network decided controversy was bad for business, and business always wins.”

Social media algorithms prioritize a lot of things before truth and the public interest.

For the community newspapers I edit, transferring publishing rights to a medium-sized media company in another state has increased our editorial independence. While we are cognizant and respectful of our local advertising partners, we are ultimately beholden to readers and subscribers in the newsroom. And we are all of us — editors, reporters, marketing specialists and front desk — members of the communities in which we are working.

So when choosing where to get your news, consider who has your best interests in mind — or better yet, who shares in them directly.