#media-censorship

#media-censorship

A reporter at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain asked Hollywood star Angelina Jolie about challenges to free expression, an unspoken nod to President Donald Trump's crackdown on the media. The media world was shaken last Wednesday night by the news that ABC had suspended Kimmel's show indefinitely (he has since been reinstated) just hours after he was targeted by Brendan Carr, President Trump's hand-picked FCC commissioner.

StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you're a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].In theory, weather reports should be neutral communications, free from ideological bias or political pressure. In practice, public broadcasting now faces severe federal funding cuts amid a crackdown on independent media and free speech; the terms "climate crisis" and "climate science" are being purged from government documents; and numerous meteorologists have received threats simply for explaining climate science.

From late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel's suspension to Pentagon restrictions on reporters and an apparent public appeal to Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue legal cases against his adversaries, Trump has escalated moves to consolidate power in his second administration and root out those who have spoken out against him. In a post on social media this weekend addressed to Bondi, Trump said "nothing is being done" on investigations into some of his foes.

BILL MAHER: I know why you're happy tonight. I'm still on. Oh, my God. Man, talk show hosts are going down like Blockbusters in the 90s. I mean, it's, whew. Well, I guess you all heard Jimmy Kimmel, my friend, my compatriot. He's canned by ABC for comments he made about Charlie Kirk's assassin. The day, right after the FCC guy came, head of the FCC, said he was going to revoke ABC's license. Let me just tell you something.

Some viewers accused Kimmel of erroneously suggesting that Kirk's alleged shooter was MAGA, which Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called "some of the sickest conduct possible." Hours before the suspension was announced, Carr raised the idea of punishing local television stations that continued to air Kimmel's show. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he said.

Funny or not, these became the grounds for deciding which narratives were state doxa and which would fall under the umbrella of the "woke mind virus" or whatever term talking heads felt like using to dismiss thoughts that fell out of line. The thought must have been that these were brief detours on a moral arc that bends toward justice or that free speech and the circulation of ideas would ultimately be the disinfectant best suited for a nation dirtied by misinformation, propaganda and fake news.

When the dust finally settles in the days after Sunday's eagerly awaited US Open men's final, the United States Tennis Association will issue its annual victory-lap press release. It will tout another record-setting Open: more than a million fans through the gates, unprecedented social-media engagement, double-digit growth in food and beverage sales, and hundreds of celebrities packed into suites from Rolex to Ralph Lauren. It will beam about growing the game, championing diversity and turning Flushing Meadows into a pop-culture destination.