Mike's Minute: The U.S. supports free speech, until it doesn't

When Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson are raging against their President, you know a line has been crossed.

Cruz said the FCC threat from Brendan Carr was straight out of Goodfellas and it's got mafia written all over it.

It's important not to forget we have the confluence of several stories here in the Jimmy Kimmel scrap;

1) The absurdity of defending free speech while closing it down. The First Amendment is critical, until it isn't, apparently.

2) The lack of corporate spine. Both Kimmel and Stephen Colbert have been dumped, mainly because the companies that own the networks were looking for FCC approval to do business.

The fact they were being compromised by stand over tactics didn’t appear to bother them.

It reminds me a lot of Covid in this country. The number of corporates who privately raged at the Government were nowhere to be seen publicly. It's amazing what power-driving fear can do to a business.

3) The simple reality that despite number one and two, these late night shows have in fact dug their own grave.

They are a broadcasting failure. Their arrogance to ignore the mood of the audience has seen their ratings crater and, along with it, advertising revenue.

Where once Jay Leno and Letterman kept it light and fun, Kimmel and co have turned their shows into angst fest's, with less humour and more campaigning. No one wants to be lectured at 11 o'clock at night and they failed to see that.

Like it or not the Trump train is rolling and their fury belongs largely in places like California. The rest of America isn't interested.

So in the midst of the mess, who is the biggest criminal?

Is it the President for being a hypocrite? Is it the networks for being spineless? Or is it the shows for being out of touch with their audiences?

While you work that out, the indisputable bit is the biggest losers are the shows.

The President aint returning and he is time limited. The networks will move on with their FCC permissions but the shows are gone. The landscape is irrevocably changed.

The big question left is - who's next?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson are raging against their president,
you know a line has been crossed. Crew said, the
FCC threat from Brendan Carr was straight out of Good Fellows.
It's got mafia written all over it. It's important not
to forget. Actually, we have the confluence here of several
stories in the Kimel scrap. One, the absurdity of defending
free speech while closing it down. The First Amendment is
critical until it isn't apparently. Two the lack of corporate spine.

(00:23):
Both Kimmel and Colbert have been dumped mainly because the
companies that own the networks were looking for FEC approval
to do business. The fact they were being compromised by
standout at tactics doesn't appear to bother them. It reminds
me a lot of COVID Actually in this country. The
number of corporates who privately raged against the government, we're
nowhere to be seen publicly. It's amazing what power driving
fear can do to a business. And then three, the

(00:45):
simple reality that despite one and two, these late night
shows have in fact dug their own grave. They are
broadcasting failures, their arrogance to ignore the mood of the
audience has seeing their ratings crater and along with an
advertising revenue. Where once Leno and Letterman kept it light
and far, Kimmel and co. Have turned their shows into
anks fests with less humor and more campaigning. I mean,
no one wants to be lectured at eleven o'clock at night,

(01:07):
and they fail to see it. Like it or not,
the Trump train is rolling and their fury belongs largely
in places like California. The rest of America is not interested.
So in the midst of the mess, who is the
biggest criminal here? Is it the President for being a hypocrite?
Is it the networks for being spineless? Or is it
the shows for being out of touch with their audiences?
And while you work that out, the indisputable bit is

(01:28):
the biggest losers are of course the show is the
president's not for turning in his time limited anyway. The
networks will move on with their FCC permissions, but the
shows they're gone. The landscape is irrevocably changed. The big
question left is who's next. For more from the Mic
asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks, the'd be from
six am weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,