A Sense of Doubt blog post #4005 - Another Government Maneuver to Silence Its Critics

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/government-pressure-to-suspend-jimmy-kimmel-was-an-abuse-of-power

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4005 - Another Government Maneuver to Silence Its Critics

Seems to me that the presumption of good intent from the Federal government is gone.

Though trust has eroded, seriously, since Nixon, the current administration may be the worst ever in so many areas, especially in the ability of at least half the country to presume its good intent.

Because Donald Trump cannot stand criticism and shows himself to be -- often multiple times a day -- the thinnest skinned person to EVER hold the office of president (as far as we know at least), or at least in modern times, he is obsessed with those who criticize him the most and publicly, like talk show hosts, like Jimmy Kimmel.

So in collusion with the FCC, there's a new effort to silence people like Kimmel.

As well as another effort to silence, Don Lemon.

https://ew.com/don-lemon-arrest-details-11898188

Thanks for tuning in!

Jimmy Kimmel on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on Sept. 23, 2025; Brendan Carr in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6, 2025.Credit: 

Disney/Randy Holmes; Paul Morigi/Getty 

Jimmy Kimmel slams FCC after chair demands changes to talk shows: 'Doing everything he can to shut us up'

"It's his latest attack on free speech," the comedian said of the FCC's chair, Brendan Carr, introducing new restrictions on late-night programs.

By 

Wesley Stenzel

 

 

January 23, 2026 5:16 p.m. ET

• Jimmy Kimmel condemned the FCC's new policies that place more restrictions on late-night shows.
• Kimmel said that the organization's chair, Brendan Carr, is "doing everything he can to shut us up."
• The comedian shared his analysis of the new policy, arguing that "it's his latest attack on free speech."

https://ew.com/jimmy-kimmel-slams-fcc-after-chair-demands-changes-to-talk-shows-11891791

Jimmy Kimmel is fighting with the FCC once again.

The comedian used his Jimmy Kimmel Live monologue on Thursday night to draw attention to the organization's chair, Brendan Carr, after he demanded that talk shows like Live and The View give an equal amount of time to political candidates on both sides of the aisle.

"[Carr] is doing everything he can to shut us up, the easy way or the hard way," Kimmel said in the monologue.

The FCC released new guidance on Wednesday that argued that talk shows and late-night shows should not be considered "bona fide" news programs, and thus should not continue to receive exemption from the equal time rule. That night, President Trump posted a link to a Los Angeles Times article with the caption, "FCC takes aim at The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live in fight over ‘equal time’ rules for politicians."

The new guidance effectively states that shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert must now give equal time to all political candidates running for the same office.

"They're reinterpreting long-agreed-upon rules to stifle us," Kimmel said. "And this one's a little bit complicated. It's not as easy as what happened the last time.  So I want to break it down."

Trump Has a Nasty New Bruise, Launches Board of Peace & Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Down the FCC’s Threats

Kimmel explained that the equal time rule emerged out of necessity in the radio era. "There were huge radio networks, and if a candidate running for office made an appearance on one of those networks, it was a big deal. It could give the candidate a major advantage over his opponents, which gave the broadcasters a lot of power."

The comedian went on to explain that Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927 to address these issues. "If you put one candidate on the air, you had to offer the same amount of air time to all the other candidates," he said. "You know, it's not just Republican and Democrats. Sometimes there are 20 people from 20 different parties running for the same spot. And if you can't interview all of them, then you can't interview any of them."

Congress then added exemptions for bona fide news programs in 1959, and allowed the FCC to dictate which shows fell under the definition of bona fide. "That allowed ABC, CBS, NBC, et cetera to interview one candidate without having to interview all of them, which mostly applied to news programs until years later when talk shows started having candidates on," Kimmel said, noting that John F. Kennedy appeared on The Tonight Show and Bill Clinton guested on The Arsenio Hall Show.  

The FCC later ruled on talk shows in 2006 when Arnold Schwarzenegger's opponent for the California governorship, Democrat Phil Angelides, filed a complaint when the Terminator star appeared on The Tonight Show.

Jimmy Kimmel on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on Feb. 26, 2025.

Disney/Randy Holmes

"The FCC denied his request," Kimmel said. "They ruled that Arnold appearing on Leno was a bona fide news interview, even though it was a talk show, and therefore not subject to those equal time rules. And that's how every talk show has operated since then."

Kimmel said that this norm seems to be ending with the FCC's latest guidance. "[Carr] is trying to say we no longer qualify for the bona fide news exemption when it comes to interviewing candidates, which is a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren't his off the air," he argued. "It's his latest attack on free speech."

The comedian then opined that the FCC's talk show shakeup doesn't make sense in a modern media landscape. 

"It's a joke because this isn't the '50s anymore. Back then there were only three major networks," he said. "Now we've got cable, we got streaming, we have satellite, podcast, social media. There are thousands of outlets now."

Kimmel noted that conservative broadcasters aren't subject to any FCC scrutiny because they don't use the same airwaves. "There are so many channels, some of them doing 24/7 Trump programming. Fox News, Newsmax, One America News, Real America's Voice," he said. "None of them are required to give equal time, but we are because we use the public airways. Equal time was designed to limit how much influence broadcasters have over public opinion. But we're not the only thing on television anymore."

Brendan Carr testifies during the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing on May 21, 2025.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

The comedian also said that he doesn't know how the new FCC guidelines will affect late-night shows moving forward. "I have no idea what the outcome of this is going to be," he said. "We'll find out. I guess whatever happens, I want to just point it out because it is another example of this administration trying to squash anyone who doesn't support them by following 'the rules.'"

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Kimmel previously came into conflict with the FCC in September. After Carr encouraged ABC affiliate groups to preempt the talk show during an appearance on The Benny Show, groups like Nexstar and Sinclair announced that they would do just that, which led to ABC suspending the show nationwide for six days. 

After the show was reinstated by ABC's parent company, Disney, some affiliate groups still refused to air Jimmy Kimmel Live — a decision that Carr praised on social media. 

"This is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney," Carr wrote on X. "And that is a good thing because we want empowered local TV stations. After all, local TV stations — not the national programmers — have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities."

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2602.03 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3868 days ago & DAD = 523 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.