Viewers, not governments, should choose what we watch

There was an ad years ago for the now antiquated telephone directories. Its slogan was “let your fingers do the walking in the Yellow Pages.” It invited people to make choices as to what businesses they would patronize. These days, the remote-control device for our TV gives us many choices for our viewing. We have a plethora of channels in order to locate our favored programs.

As Jimmy Kimmel has gotten increasingly political over the years, my fingers walked away from the close of our local ABC news presentation onto another choice — often Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. It is the luxury of living in a free market. We get to choose.

When ABC dropped Kimmel from his late night program as a result of some questionable references to the tragic killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, it succumbed to pressure from its two largest affiliate groups. Those entities seemingly were pressured by Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr who was thought to have received a go-ahead from president Trump, an ongoing target of Kimmel’s criticism. If he acted under pressure from our highest office, there appears to be a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects free speech.

Not a supporter of many issues endorsed by our president, this former Republican turned Independent was nonetheless turned off by Kimmel’s ongoing tossing of arrows. When watching late night TV, I was in search of the comedic relief one experiences while watching the opening monologues. Kimmel was not funny.

The two affiliate groups who pulled the plug were Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group. They comprised the majority of Kimmel affiliates and their exits made ABC’s decision necessary. Sinclair is attempting to merge with Tribune Media, pending approval by the FCC. It’s not a stretch to visualize a squeeze being applied by the FCC, who regarded Kimmel’s tirades as “hate speech.” In fact, Kimmel’s content was distasteful, but never advocated violence.

If left alone, Kimmel may have traveled the cancellation path organically. Late night legacy network programming is clearly on the wane. According to August ratings from Nielsen Media Research, Kimmel averaged 1.1 million viewers. It represented a decline of eleven percent from the previous month and was the continuation of a pattern of descent. By contrast, Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show averaged 17 million viewers at its peak over 30 years ago. 

Chances are, Kimmel was already in the category of endangered species.

When Carr announced his derision of Kimmel, he said: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Republican senator Ted Cruz likened that statement to one heard from a mob boss. It was not befitting a director charged with overseeing our airwaves.

Kirk was a proponent of free speech. Likely, he would have balked at the pressure to censure a TV voice. That action can also be applied when Democrats claim the mantle of U.S. leadership. Clearly, it is a slippery slope for our democracy.

We have fingers that do the walking. And we don’t need government officials whose fingers do the pointing.

Jeff Hurvitz (jrhurvitz@aol.com) is a native Philadelphian and freelance writer.