Sensible people on the right and left are outraged about the fact that Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened ABC over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin. But those angry tweets and think pieces about the importance of free speech and open markets don’t go far enough. The real issue is the existence of the FCC itself.
Whatever technical functions it might have once served—it was founded in 1934 to regulate the radio, among other forms of communications—the FCC now serves almost exclusively as a way for politicians to police speech and block business deals they don’t like, all under the maddeningly vague cover of serving “the public interest.” That one of Donald Trump’s very first executive orders issued this year reversed what he called the Biden administration’s attempts to trample “free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties” only underscores the point. Trump was alluding to the jawboning uncovered in the Twitter Files and other investigations, but since resuming power, the president and his cabinet have felt free to openly bully media outlets, law firms, and private citizens.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, sounding more like a mob enforcer than a bureaucrat committed to impartial implementation of rules. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr’s wish was granted. That day, Nexstar, the nation’s largest owner of television stations, including 32 ABC affiliates, was quick to announce it would not air Kimmel’s show for the foreseeable future. The company did not say whether its pending merger with Tegna and requests to loosen ownership rules, which need FCC approval, played any role in its decision. But it’s hard not to draw that conclusion.
