Nexstar Earns 'Four Chickens' on the Media Capitulation Index for 'Obeying' the Trump FCC's Call to Muzzle Jimmy Kimmel
Thousands of Free Press Action activists call on Congress to haul in Brendan Carr to answer for his campaign of censorship
NEW YORK — Following news that Disney planned to return Jimmy Kimmel to the air on Tuesday, Free Press Action alerted its million-plus activists and asked them to urge their members of Congress to demand answers from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr in an oversight hearing.
Free Press Action has also called for a congressional inquiry into the actions of Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group executives – who are still refusing to air Kimmel’s program – as well as Disney CEO Bob Iger. “We need a public hearing to get to the bottom of this threat to free speech,” says Free Press Action Co-CEO Craig Aaron. “We need to fully understand what pressure the government put on these media companies and what they were promised in exchange for cutting shows from their lineups and silencing network voices.”
After Disney suspended Kimmel, Free Press urged thousands of its members to call their local ABC stations and demand that they put Kimmel’s program back on the air. Despite the enormous public outcry against the media’s capitulation to government pressure, massive broadcast conglomerates Nexstar and Sinclair continue to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! on stations that reach 20 percent of the show’s national audience.
Free Press on Tuesday downgraded Nexstar’s Media Capitulation Index rating, changing it from three chickens (“capitulating”) to four (“obeying”). Free Press released the Media Capitulation Index in July to document what the nation’s 35 largest media and tech companies control, and to examine the degrees to which each is capitulating to demands from the Trump administration.
Nexstar earned the new distinction after it fell in line following an unconstitutional threat from FCC Chairman Carr to take official action against any broadcaster that continued to air Kimmel’s program. The decision is reportedly sparking dissent within Nexstar newsrooms, where staff — who are fielding calls from angry viewers — feel powerless to respond. Activists are organizing demonstrations outside stations that have failed to bring Kimmel back, including at Seattle’s ABC affiliate KOMO, where protesters are organizing a local advertiser boycott of the Sinclair-owned station.
“It’s not hard to figure out why Nexstar continues to obey the command from President Trump and FCC Chairman Carr to censor Jimmy Kimmel and anyone else who speaks out against his authoritarian agenda,” says Timothy Karr, a Free Press senior director and creator of the Media Capitulation Index. “The company will soon be asking the FCC to rubber stamp an illegal merger with TEGNA, and Brendan Carr has made it very clear that a favorable review depends on Nexstar toeing Trump’s political line.
“The good news is that people across the country aren’t having any of it — and their message got through loud and clear to Disney, which restored Kimmel’s program. It’s now Nexstar’s and Sinclair’s turn to do right by the public and reverse their ban.
“Kimmel is right: This push to silence dissenting voices and muzzle the press is profoundly anti-American and dangerous. But the public response to the FCC-coerced suspension of Kimmel is one of the most powerful reactions we’ve seen so far to the Trump administration’s authoritarian overreach.
“If this past week has taught us anything, it’s that even if mainstream media won’t exercise their First Amendment rights, the American people will rise up and defend free speech for them.”