The Firing of Jimmy Kimmel: The Latest Step on the Road to Fascism

The firing of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC -- which is exactly what his "suspension" is -- is the latest step in the road to fascism being paved by the current President of the United States and his allies.  It began with the hounding out of their jobs of  FBI and other people who lawfully investigated Trump's instigation of the January 2021 attack on the Capitol, the pressure on universities to end DEI and other policies distasteful to MAGA Americans and their theorists, and of course the firing of another late-night host, Stephen Colbert, by another cowardly media operation, CBS.  (William Paley must still be turning over in his grave.)

In the case of Kimmel, rumblings were being made about the FCC doing something about him.  I've thought the FCC was blatantly unconstitutional as soon as I was old enough to think.  It violated the First Amendment's clear proscription on the government "abridging the freedom of speech or of the press" -- what else would any honest person say a late-night comedian, ridiculing Trump and his policies, was doing?  The only crime in that would be how easy it was to make those jokes, because the threat to our democratic way of life was so obviously no joke indeed.

FDR, certainly one of our greatest Presidents, jeopardized our democracy when he signed the Communications Act of 1934 into law.  So did Felix Frankfurter in the 1943 Supreme Court decision "NBC v the US," which he wrote, which ratified the FCC's power to regulate broadcasting.  Ironically, that was in the middle of our war with Nazi Germany which FDR was so instrumental in winning, not to mention that Frankfurter was a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920.

I started teaching at universities in the 1970s, and the danger of the FCC has always been a part of my courses about the media and their impact.  My main point has always been: imagine the FCC under the control of a President bent on willfully superseding our democracy and its protections from dictatorship (see, for example, my 2005 Media Ecology conference Keynote address transcript and video The Flouting of the First Amendment).  I take no satisfaction and indeed am saddened and deeply concerned to see this patent threat to our democracy so vividly realized by this President and the many people who support him.

Note added September 24, 2025:  Last night: Jimmy Kimmel's sage, hilarious opening monologue

 

To the fascist enablers that prevented this show from being aired in 20% of its markets, I hope you go out of business soon; to fascist enabler Paramount/CBS: reverse your decision to end The Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert]; to everyone: I'll be recording a conversation w/ Frank LoBuono about this in a few hours for his Being Frank podcast

Lame CBS Broadcasts Only First Hour of Republican Foreign Policy Debate

So if you were watching the Republican Presidential debate on foreign policy on CBS last night, you were treated to its ending after the first hour, with an announcement that the remaining half hour would be available online.

Now, I'm all in favor of television being available online, but -

What about viewers who may not have been near their computers, or would rather watch the debate on a screen larger than their smartphones?

I'm not a Republican, and I enjoy the jokes about Republicans not having a foreign policy as much as any non-Republican, but CBS's decision not to broadcast the entire 90-minute debate strikes me as a profound disservice to our electoral process.

The truth is, Democrats, Independents, not only Republicans, were disadvantaged by CBS's decision.  It's good for anyone or any political persuasion to see what the person who will likely face Barack Obama in the 2012 thinks about major foreign policy issues.   As Walter Lippmann pointed out way back in the 1920s, democracy is a sham if voters are uninformed.

That's certainly what William Paley thought when he took command of the CBS radio network in the 1920s.   Coverage of all aspects of elections remained first and foremost in his network when it added television to its roster in the 1940s.

I guess it's not surprising that CBS shows so little understanding of current elections and what they require.  Like all the mass media, CBS has shown little understanding of Occupy Wall Street, and the resurgence of direct democracy it embodies.   CBS is an equal opportunity abuser of representative as well as direct democracy.

And what was so important that CBS had to cut short its debate coverage?  A rerun of NCIS - one of my favorite shows on television - but I bet even Gibbs would have given the president of CBS a head-slap on Saturday night if he could.


Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1

CBS Mars Grammys with Bleeps, Part II

Well, CBS exceeded last year's regrettable performance of censoring artists on its Grammy Awards broadcast, earlier this evening bleeping (dead silencing) phrases from Arcade Fire, Dr. Dre, Eminem,  Cee Lo, and Lady Gaga - five artists in comparison to three (Lil Wayne, Eminem, Drake) bleeped last year.


It's getting to the point - as I mentioned in one of my Tweets during the Grammys broadcast - that CBS should start calling its show "Holes in the Music".   Afraid to stand up to the FCC and its unconstitutional fines on behalf of the rights of artists and writers to say what they please ("Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech"), CBS also deprives people in America and around the world the right to enjoy performances of their favorite artists.    CBS' cowardice is especially unfortunate in a world which is daily standing up for its freedom from government repression in memorable ways.


The Grammys need to move to another station, which is willing to let the music and words flow freely.


In the meantime, here are my Tweets pointing out the acts of censorship on CBS earlier this evening, in reverse order.   I look forward to the time that I can just Tweet about how much I'm enjoying the artists and their performances.

PaulLev Paul Levinson

And just for a good measure, Arcade Fire was censored. CBS should call its show "Holes in the Music"

3 hours ago 

PaulLev Paul Levinson

Dr. Dre just got the censorious treatment!

4 hours ago 

PaulLev Paul Levinson

Now Eminem censored twice ... the Grammys should be taken off CBS and moved to a station that respects artists and writers

4 hours ago 

PaulLev Paul Levinson

And now Cee Lo was apparently bleeped by the CBS censors ... what are they, five years old?

4 hours ago 

PaulLev Paul Levinson

CBS up to its old censoring, cowardly tricks: just "bleeped" Lady Gaga's acceptance speech!

And CBS Disses Gays

Last night, CBS struck a blow for cluelessness and Victorian morality by silencing a Grammy perfornance at least 10 times.

Today, I saw the news  that CBS is pulling the ManCrunch gay dating site ad from its Superbowl lineup.

Fortunately, America has evolved beyond the shackles which typified much of 20th century television.  That's one reason why cable television and the Internet are drawing so many former network viewers.   For CBS to cater to the retrograde, biased elements in America - to people who don't understand or oppose the need to treat people the same, whatever their lawful sexual preferences - only further separates CBS from the cutting edge of American popular culture.

Awards ceremonies and big sporting events may be the last bastion of network success, as viewers of news and drama and comedy increasingly go elsewhere.   Yes, I know there are superb shows such as Lost and 24 on network television - I review them every week - and NCIS on CBS.  But the trajectories are heading away from the networks.  For every Lost on network, there is a Big Love, True Blood, Mad Men, Dexter, and Burn Notice on cable.

CBS seems to be doing a good job of undermining its last zone of success.

CBS Mars Grammys with Bleeps

CBS just marred a fine Grammy night by silencing the Lil Wayne, Eminem, Drake performance at least 10 times.

What is CBS afraid of? More unconstitutional FCC fines? If so, the CBS execs who made the bleeping decision should resign, and let people who have respect for Americans and our music step up and run the tiffany network.  Ed Sullivan has become a laughing stock for his presentation of Elvis only from the waist up, his censoring of the Rolling Stones, and his attempt to censor the Doors.   Historians will similarly look with ridicule upon CBS's ham-handed handling of the Grammys.

The audiences for network television are already receding. If the networks are to have any future at all, any chance of competing with the generally better programming of cable (when was the last time you heard a bleep on an HBO concert?) and the vistas of the Web, the networks need to stop running scared, and start treating their viewers like adults.

We do, after all, have a First Amendment in this country.

And Now Don Hewitt, 1922-2009

Been a tough summer for the titans of early television. In front of the camera, Walter Cronkite was taken from us in July. And now comes the news that Don Hewitt, as great behind the camera as Walter was in front, has joined Walter.

Don Hewitt was 86. He is best known as the inventor of the tv news magazine - 60 Minutes, which debuted on CBS in 1968, and is the longest running prime time show on network television.

But Hewitt was there - meaning, here, on the screen, with us - far earlier. My parents bought their first television set in 1951, when I was four years old. I can't say that I remember the first broadcast of See It Now, with a cameo by Don Hewitt, on November 18, 1951 - but I know my parents did, because we talked about it years later.

Jonathan Sanders, formerly at CBS News, and now at Fordham University (I was pleased to bring to our faculty when I was Chair, several years ago), was good enough to send me this clip from that 1951 premier, now on YouTube. Jonathan notes Edward R. Murrow's classic line, at the beginning of the clip, "This is an old team trying to learn a new trade."

Keep watching, and you'll see and hear a little of Don Hewitt (bringing producers out front on a show was not an invention of Saturday Night Live....)

Nowadays, in the age of Twitter and YouTube and other new new media, we're all an old team learning a new trade - and it's never been more fun.

Thanks, Don, for helping blaze this trail that got us here.



See also Walter Cronkite Reaches the Cosmos

Katie Couric, Hero of the Revolution

I'm looking forward to not blogging any more about Sarah Palin, but her explanation given the other day to Matt Lauer about why she couldn't tell Katie Couric what newspapers Palin reads -

you know, questions about, well, you know, 'What do you read up there in Alaska?' To me that was a little bit annoying. Because I'm like, what do you mean, what do I read in Alaska? I read the same things that you guys read in New York. And there in LA and in Washington state.

- reminded me about the pivotal, crucial role Katie Couric played in this year's momentous election.

What was the single most decisive moment in the election, the instant in which the McCain-Palin ticket was irrevocably finished?

Obviously, the financial crisis was the major factor, and McCain seriously hurt his chances by suspending his campaign, urging a postponement of the first debate, and rushing over to Washington, DC to accomplish nothing. That might well have been the second worst moment of the McCain-Palin campaign.

But I don't think it was the worst, because, as the weeks proceeded, McCain's bizarre initial reactions to the financial crisis got diluted by other events.

Not so Katie Couric's CBS interview of Sarah Palin, broadcast on September 30. To this day, I can't understand why Sarah Palin was unable to tell Couric what newspapers she read, or to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade. Was Palin advised not to answer questions like this? Hard to believe - as it is hard to believe that she didn't answer because she could not cite a paper or a US Supreme Court decision.

I think that moment, that lack of answer, became indelibly recorded in the opinions many Americans from then on had of Sarah Palin.

Katie Couric and CBS have received a lot of criticism in the past few years. But there was something about Couric's interview style, her soft spoken way of putting her questions, that put Palin at ease and led to this result.

When the histories of this election are written, they will say that the Tiffany Network shone bright again, and the CBS Evening News anchor came through again for America, in that interview. By doing what media interviews are supposed to do - help Americans get to better know their candidates. And, fifteen days later, Bob Schieffer of CBS came through with the best moderation of any of the debates this year.

William Paley would have been proud.

MSNBC & ABC Call Pennsylvania for Obama; CNN, Fox, CBS Say Too Close to Call

Two of the five major television networks have just called Pennsylvania for Obama - MSNBC and ABC. The three other major networks - CNN, Fox, and CBS - say it's currently too close to call.

If MSNBC and ABC are right, then Obama is extremely likely to win the election. Kerry won Pennsylvania in 2004. If Obama has now won that state, then all he needs to do is pick off one or two other states in which Bush won in 2004 - and there are many. McCain's last ditch Pennsylvania strategy failed.

Fascinating how the networks differ in their calls.

But I'm thinking two out of five networks calls will be enough for Obama to be President.

More soon.

Mike Wallace at 89, at Fordham University

I love teaching, but every once in a while I have a day that captures the very best that can happen at a fine university. It's related to teaching, as most things are at a university, but goes far beyond that.

I've been watching, enjoying, and learning from Mike Wallace on CBS since I was teenager, back in the 1960s. Whether his sage commentary in reporting Presidential election returns, or his take-no-prisoners questions in pursuit of the truth on 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace has always been a one-of-a-kind class act.

He talked today at Fordham University. And not only answered but asked perceptive questions of the students - the kinds of questions that may well change some of their lives.

Here's how that came to be.

In my capacity as Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, I helped hire Dr. Beth Knobel. About a year ago, we coaxed her into leaving her position as CBS Bureau Chief in Moscow and joining our Department at Fordham. She arranged for Mike Wallace to come talk to her "Innovators in Television" class today (there couldn't be a better fit), and opened the class to the entire university.

I said a few words about Mike Wallace and introduced the President of Fordham University, Joseph McShane, SJ, who provided an elegant, formal introduction. President McShane is himself a keen student of media, and aptly observed that Mike Wallace had invented a significant part of what we take today as broadcast journalism.

As Mike pointed out, it's been somewhat in decline of late on cable. (Mike insisted that he be called Mike, so I'll honor that request here from now on.)

He spoke with passion about how he confronted General Westmoreland and Lyndon Johnson about the deceptions they were spreading about the Vietnam War - no easy task for a journalist back then - and about many other signal moments in his five decades on camera.

But his most significant moments at Fordham today came when he effortlessly moved from his role as guest lecturer to his much more familiar role as astute questioner. He started by asking the students what they watch on television, what they want from television news.

But soon he was asking them about their views on mortality, the after life, whether they believe in a deity, a cosmic plan - something one might expect of an 89-year old, but not in a talk to students about his half-century on CBS.

And it was quite extraordinary. And deeply appropriate. What is a reporter, an investigative journalist, after all, if not a teacher, and sometimes of the most profound things, to the public at large.

His wife Mary, who was also a pleasure to meet, watched all of this with a twinkle in her eye.

Mike Wallace may have "retired" from active broadcasting last year. But he'll never retire as a teacher of the human species, a conveyor of its highest calling in the quest for truth, wherever you might find it.

Good for Dan Rather: CBS Deserves To Be Sued

A brief note of support:

Dan Rather is 100% justified in filing a 70 million-dollar lawsuit against CBS. Instead of standing by its reporter, after its own two-member panel could not say for sure that the report Rather went on the air with was false, CBS hung Rather out to dry, and in so doing damaged both his reputation and his potential for future employment.

CBS damaged its own reputation and its legacy even more.

CBS just celebrated its 80th anniversary the other day. William Paley must be turning over in his grave about CBS did to Dan Rather. His law suit is a small way of rectifyng that.