It wasn't controversial, but this is literally the textbook Manufacturing Consent model. The small number of people in positions of power at the network are either overtly aligned with the president that he just talked bad about, or want to stay or get on the president's good side. He doesn't even need to pick up the phone or post anything on social media, they know what they need to do.

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digitaltrees 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

To be fair to the executives. The main regulator that could essentially issue the corporate death penalty, the FCC chairman that can revoke their license to operate, literally said “we can do this the easy way or the hard way”. That’s a Dirty Harry or goodfellas quote. So much for “government shouldn’t pick winners and losers in the economy”.

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lukev an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Alternatively, perhaps it is the duty of the executives to defend their company, its viewers and employees, when confronted with unlawful and unreasonable government demands.

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thrance 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You really don't have to be fair to the executives. The FCC absolutely can't do shit about Jimmy Kimmel, and would lose the procedure if it ever came to it. Instead, they immediately bent the knee and decided that loyalty to the nascent fascist regime was more important that standing up against the most clear cut and unjustifiable attack to free speech in a long time.

	▲	eusto 19 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		FCC can decide to not let the $6.2 billion Nexstar acquisition go through. Kimmel is just part of the bribe

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kevin_thibedeau 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's more that ABC/Disney is beholden to two right-leaning broadcasters who are colluding with threats to assist in their prohibited merger that will be approved now because they just gave the felon a successful hand job. There is no indication that the ABC execs are anything more than spineless, unprincipled cowards who cave in a light breeze.

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christophilus 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Unless everyone at the top has been fired, ABC and Disney are not remotely aligned with the president. A short while ago, they were boycotted by the right for their slanted debate hosting and woke children’s programming.

	▲	nothrabannosir 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Those two could be entirely compatible if it turns out they never gave a hoot about the actual politics, and only did all that stuff because they thought it would get them more favor with viewers, and thereby more money. I would personally not raise an eyebrow to learn this was the case.

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snapplebobapple 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[flagged]

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yieldcrv 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think most commenters are missing that a local broadcaster monopoly used their own freedom of association to drop the show

The FCC and Trump merely dogpiled on this

For Disney, they need to court the broadcaster monopoly as a key stakeholder to their revenue, this is all private sector and not a constitutional issue

But when Disney is getting kicked and then an expensive fight with the government looms while their revenue is already threatened and would be expensive to resolve with the government , they buckled

Thats the calculus here

but because they buckled, now their customers are using their own freedom of association to disassociate, hampering Disney’s revenue more from that angle

Press F to Pay Respects

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willmarch 7 hours ago | parent [-]

The FCC and Trump "merely" dogpiling on is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution and should be condemned by all.

	▲	yieldcrv 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Ok. “Yes, its scary and authoritarian because it worked.” I said the line guys, happy? Moving on There is also a protest of Nexstar’s advertisers to get them to avoid Nexstar for cancelling Jimmy Kimmel on their local broadcasters to begin with