Jimmy Kimmel, the FCC and broadcast media under Trump

Disney’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has sent shockwaves across the country. The action came after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said on a podcast, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” after criticizing comments Kimmel made about assigning a political motive to Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. 

This sparked a nationwide debate on the power of the FCC and the Trump administration’s push to quell dissenting voices. What effect will this have on other media outlets?  How much control should a federal agency like the FCC be able to wield? Where is the line between regulation and censorship? 

On this edition of Studio 2, we unpack the role of government in media oversight.

Guests:

David Folkenflik, NPR media correspondent

Eugene Volokh, senior fellow at the Hoover Institute