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And this one is infinitely worse than a bunch of internet commenters disagreeing with his comments or private advertisers pulling out. Trump and the FCC directly threatened to pull ABC's license unless they regulated his speech, and ABC caved. The first amendment is dead and people are celebrating on the streets because their favorite political party was the one to kill it.
What changed?
I'm not familiar with what you are quoting specifically, but that refrain is typically understood to mean "the first amendment doesn’t protect against consequences ... except from the government".
Whether the FCC’s actions are also legal here I don’t know.
But it goes to show the insanity of US politics that one can make an argument yesterday then argue against the same point the next.
But then again, I get the sense it’s all one circus with everyone well aware of what’s going on. It’s basically a performance where the audience knows the performer doesn’t believe it themselves.
This isn't some even handed application of the FCC's policies against hate speech (if that's how one cares to describe Kimmel's comments) or misinformation (is there even such a policy?).
You don't have to look far to see this is politically motivated: just this week a Fox host suggested that the homeless should just be exterminated. I don't believe the FCC has threatened Fox's broadcast license in an attempt to influence Fox to fire him
I for one choose not to participate.
What I don't understand is why it's ok if the FCC commissioner pushed for it. That does seem like a first amendment deal.
I mean if laws weren’t broken, and it was pressure alone because of personal views, then yeah that’s wrong.