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Good Morning, Many TV stations brand their news coverage as "Holding the Powerful Accountable." Since TV news was on the air, this was a key pillar in their mission. But, what happens when a media company does the complete opposite? They don't hold the powerful accountable, and in fact, they bow down to the wishes of the powerful. Look no further than the events of the past 24 hours. First, Nexstar, the largest station group in the country, announced it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel off its 32 ABC affiliates. In a statement, the company said, “Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.” Not long after Nexstar announced its move to appease the Trump administration, the ABC network folded as well. An ABC spokesperson saying, “Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be preempted indefinitely.” Think about what is happening here: major media companies are giving in to the wishes of the Trump administration. Nexstar is doing it in a transparent effort to grease the skids on their deal to buy Tegna. And, it appears ABC is doing it to keep the Trump administration off its back. At this point in time, if you want real journalism, you basically have to turn to independent journalists, who still have backbones and are not worried about getting their next corporate merger approved. This whole Jimmy Kimmel saga has to do with two things: money and power. It is sad to watch the media companies, the people who are supposed to be on the front line of free speech, bend a knee to the President and cower in the corner. For the sake of argument, let's look at the other side of the coin. Fox News host Brian Kilmeade called for the government to kill mentally ill homeless people and he didn't lose a day at work. Why? Because right now, it just depends on which side you're on. Fox News is on Trump's side, so there was no blowback at all to Kilmeade's comments. The message being sent by corporate media is dangerously clear. The media companies have lost their way, and the viewing public are the ones who suffer.
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