U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested some American TV networks should have their licences “taken away” – the latest salvo in his long campaign to attack the mainstream media and in the middle of a febrile American debate about alleged “free speech”.
“I have read some place that the networks were 97% against me, again, 97% negative, and yet I won and easily [in last year’s election],” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on 18 September as he flew home from a state visit to the UK.
“They give me only bad publicity [and] press. I mean, they’re getting a licence. I would think maybe their licence should be taken away.”
It was, and is, not an empty threat.
The day before, ABC had suspended its late night talk show following criticism from the American broadcast regulator and pressure from one its biggest local affiliate owners over remarks by its host Jimmy Kimmel about the killing of right-wing activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk.
The chair of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr had accused Kimmel of the sickest conduct possible” and said firms like the Disney-owned ABC could “find ways to change conduct and take action… or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC”.
“We’re going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest – and if broadcasters don’t like that simple solution, they can turn their licence in to the FCC,” Carr said.
Within hours ABC suspended the Jimmy Kimmel show.
The FCC has regulatory power over major American tv networks such as ABC, as well as the local stations that carry their content.
And owners of local stations can influence the networks by refusing to carry shows. Kimmel’s suspension was announced shortly after NexStar Media, owner of 20 ABC affiliate stations, said it would not air his show “for the foreseeable future” as his remarks had been “offensive and insensitive”.
Reinstating the show would involve a complicated web of business and regulatory considerations involving ABC’s parent company, other media companies and the Trump administration.
Two days earlier on 14 September Kimmel had said on his show:
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Kimmel had also mocked Trump’s alleged grief over Kirk: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?”
America’s late-night TV hosts rallied in support of fellow comedian Kimmel.
Former US president Barack Obama wrote on X: “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.
“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent, and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”
Fiona O’Brien, UK director of Reporters Without Borders, said suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel shows represented a “really dangerous moment for democracy”.
“The media is not there to serve politicians,” she said. “The media is there to hold those in power to account, to scrutinise them. The general public, which is who the media serve, have a right to know what those in power are doing.”
She noted that the tactics the Trump administration is accused of using to “block” freedom of speech are used by authoritarian governments around the world.”It’s a way to try and control the narrative… silence your critics and have only one side of the story told.”
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, usually a strongTrump supporter, likened Carr to a mafioso in his own podcast. Cruz said he hated Kimmel’s comments, was glad he’s gone, and said Carr was “a good guy”.
“But what he [Carr] said there is dangerous as hell.
“And so he threatens, explicitly, we’re going to cancel ABC’s licence .. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.
“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again – wins the White House … they will silence us. They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous,” Cruz said.
Carr was FCC general legal counsel, then an FCC commissioner appointed by Trump in 2017 before he was named FCC chair this year by Trump.
In 2019 he posted on Twitter: “Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest.”
In 2022, Carr called political satire “one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech” because it “challenges those in power” and in another post: “The government does not evade the First Amendment’s restraints on censoring political speech by jawboning a company into suppressing it.”
In 2023 he called government censorship “the authoritarian’s dream.”
And in a speech in 2024: “Any time you have an increase in government control, you necessarily have a decrease in free speech because free speech is the counterweight; free speech is the check on government control.”
Since becoming FCC chair, Carr has criticized nearly every major media company, launched a still-ongoing investigation of NPR and PBS, demanded answers from YouTube parent Alphabet over allegations it discriminated against faith-based programming, and threatened to block mergers of companies engaged in DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) practices.
In an interview on 17 September, Carr suggested his mandate came straight from Trump, who he said ran for election directly against the “legacy media establishment” and “smashed the facade that they get to control what we say, what we think, the narrative around events.”
For media company owners, standing up to Trump and the FCC often clashes with their business interests.
ABC owner Disney was seeking FCC approval for its ESPN channel’s acquisition of the NFL Network,
Affiliate owner NexStar needed similar FCC approval to complete a $6.2bn purchase of broadcast rival Tegna.
In July, CBS announced cancellation next year of its late night talk show 3 days after host Stephen Colbert criticized a $16 million settlement by CBS owner Paramount of a Trump lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” program story. Paramount had needed Trump administration approval for its merger with Skydance Media, approval which came days later.
And these business decisions came as traditional American late night television shows faced declining audiences and consequent declining advertising revenue as well as ongoing audience loss to streaming services.
After the CBS settlement, Trump cheered on his Truth Social media platform that “I absolutely love” that Colbert was “fired” and insulted the late-night hosts on ABC, CBS and NBC. “I hear (ABC’s) Jimmy Kimmel is next,” Trump wrote. “Has even less talent than Colbert. (Fox News Channel’s) Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight show.”
In the wake of the Kirk shooting, conservative commentators and Trump allies tried to portray Charlie Kirk as a champion of “free speech” and told Americans to mourn him properly or face the consequences.
A major opinion poll conducted shortly after the killing indicated a dramatic fall in Republican voters’ view of the country’s direction. An AP-NORC poll of 1,183 adults between September 11 and 15 showed only about half of Republican voters thought the USA was on the right course – down from 70% in June, the last time the question was asked.
The drop was even sharper among Republicans under 45 and women – 61% of younger Republicans said the country was headed in the wrong direction up 30 percentage points since June, and 75% of Republican women said the same, up from 27% in June.
56% of Republican men said the country was going the wrong way, up from 30% in June.
Democrat and independent voters’ opinions did not change meaningfully.
Overall the poll showed about 25% of all Americans thought the country was headed in the right direction, down from about 40% in June.
Democrats and independents didn’t shift meaningfully.
Other major recent polls specifically on Trump – by the Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos, the Economist/YouGov, and Reuters/Ipsos – show slight changes in approval and disapproval with approval around 42% and disapproval around 56%.
Besides the pressure on media owners, the Trump administration has taken action to restrict Associated Press (AP) access to the White House, is dismantling Voice of America and associated global broadcasters, and reducing funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service(PBS).ABC takes Jimmy Kimmel off air – BBC 18 September
ABC suspends Kimmel show – AP 18 September
Cancelling Jimmy Kimmel – The New York Times 18 September
Trump applauds Kimmel cancellation and supports action against critical broadcasters – Reuters 19 September
The Jimmy Kimmel comments
Late night show hosts support Kimmel
Kimmel vs. Trump – Sky News 19 September
The future of the Jimmy Kimmel show – AP 21 September
FCC Chair Brendan Carr – The Washington Post 19 September
Ted Cruz likens Brendan Carr to a mafioso – BBC 20 September
Australia’s state broadcaster mistaken for US ABC, gets critical emails – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 20 September
Late night tv shows in trouble from Trump and ratings – Business Insider 18 September
Paramount settles Trump suit against CBS – AP July 2
Paramount merges with Skydance – AP July 8
Deepening divides – New York Times 19 September
Trump allies tell Americans to mourn Charlie Kirk or face the consequences – Reuters 13 September
Conservative campaign to police speech after Charlie Kirk killing – AP 16 September
Charlie Kirk assassination – AP 11 September
The killing of Charlie Kirk – AP 13 September
Charlie Kirk – Reuters 11 September
AP-NORC opinion poll on future of America – 19 September
Tracking opinion on Trump – Forbes 17 September
Trump public approval drops – The Hill 17 September
Trump campaign against the mainstream media – AP 18 September
Trump attacks the media – New York Times 18 September
Trump dismantling VOA
Court allows Trump to keep restricting access to AP
Trump attacks on the media – AEJ 31 March
