FCC's role in Kimmel controversy sparks academic discussion at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. (WGN) — The controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel and his late-night show entered the classroom as Northwestern University communication students studied the situation in class on Thursday.

Inside the university’s School of Communication, professor Rick Morris had planned to cover how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) holds regulatory power over local broadcast television stations. But it’s not every day that part of the lesson plan comes right from the headlines: ‘ABC pulls Kimmel’s show off the air after Kirk remarks, network announces indefinite pause.’

“The government has a way of applying pressure,” Morris said.

It happened after Nexstar – the owner of WGN and more than 200 other local TV stations – said it would preempt Kimmel’s show on its ABC affiliates. The FCC chairman threatened consequences if the stations didn’t take action after Kimmel commented: 

“The MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

“One of the big groups protested, and they said, ‘We’re not going to carry ‘The Jimmy Kimmel Show,’ and so, since they weren’t going to carry the show, ABC says that they reacted and put him on indefinite suspension,” Morris added.

Morris, a scholar of television history, said that network late-night television programs have become cultural touchstones, and their hosts have always responded to current events in their monologues. 

“Johnny Carson, in particular, definitely covered presidential foibles and was kind of famous for making jokes about the presidents. But he said he attempted to keep them lighthearted. The question is the transition over time and the fact that we’re now more opinionated, and the laws have changed over time,” Morris said.

Morris said politicians have always taken issue with certain criticism from news and entertainment shows. Still, he noted that what makes the Kimmel case different is the direct threat from the FCC chairman and the subsequent action from the stations. Morris presents all viewpoints in his class, but says the Kimmel case raises serious questions.

“Should a government have a role? The answer has always been in our history, sometimes, but mostly no, because we have the First Amendment, and the First Amendment protects speech in this country from government intervention,” Morris said.

It’s not the first time. Professor Morris pointed out that President Richard Nixon’s administration pressured the FCC to challenge the license renewals of TV stations owned by the Washington Post Company after the Post reported on the Watergate scandal.