Free speech in America is so common we hardly notice it, until it’s gone. Here, comedians like Jerry Seinfeld can riff on nothing more than breakfast cereal and become national treasures. Elsewhere, jokes can land you in jail. In Egypt, Bassem Youssef, once dubbed the “Egyptian Jon Stewart,” was forced to cancel his show and flee the country after mocking the regime in 2013. Even internationally celebrated figures like Pope Francis weighed in on comedy’s importance, inviting U.S. comedians like Chris Rock and Jimmy Fallon to the Vatican in 2024 ,calling humor one of the few things that can cross cultures and generations. Comedy, it seems, is both a luxury and a measure of western-style democracy.
Jimmy Kimmel is back on air, but not everywhere. When the late-night host returned to ABC in late September after a suspension, many Americans tuned in only to find reruns or replacement programming. In markets from Salt Lake City to Nashville, Kimmel’s show never appeared because two of the nation’s largest station owners, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, decided not to broadcast it.
The suspension followed jokes Kimmel made about the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump allies and an FCC commissioner sharply criticized the remarks, and Disney briefly pulled the show. When it returned, Nexstar and Sinclair affiliates, which own about a quarter of ABC stations, refused to air it, giving their decision outsized influence.
Kimmel opened his first monologue back with a nod to late-night history: “As I was saying before I was interrupted…” The line echoed Jack Paar, the Tonight Show host who stunned viewers in 1960 by walking off after censors cut one of his jokes. Paar famously said, “There must be a better way of making a living than this.”
Jimmy also called efforts to silence comedians “anti-American.” It was a line meant to sting, but the bigger issue reaches beyond his show. The blackout highlighted the shrinking number of companies that decide what reaches American screens.
The Economic Policy Institute analyzes how in the 1970s the broadcast landscape was far more local. Newspapers, radio stations, and TV outlets were often independently owned, giving communities a wider range of voices. Deregulation in the 1980s and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed companies to expand across markets. By the early 2000s, just six corporations controlled most U.S. media. According to the Chicago Booth Review, Today Nexstar, Sinclair, and Gray Television together hold nearly 40 percent of local TV stations.
Supporters of consolidation say large companies keep local broadcasting alive as ad revenue declines and audiences shift online. Critics argue it narrows coverage and leaves communities more dependent on national content. The number of local journalists has fallen by more than 75 percent since 2002. With fewer reporters and fewer owners, one decision in a corporate office can silence programming for millions of viewers.
The Kimmel case also raised questions about political influence. Broadcasters can choose what to air, but the timing of the blackout made critics wary. Pressure from politicians and regulators can blur the line between business decisions and censorship. After Kimmel’s remarks, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr warned on a podcast that airing the show could bring “additional work” from regulators, a threat media experts called highly unusual.
For Disney, the issue was political and financial. Kimmel’s show is a sliver of the Walt Disney’s Company $91 billion revenue, and a yearlong blackout might cost only a few million. The reputational cost was riskier: canceling could look like silencing dissent, but keeping him risked backlash. Some subscribers even threatened to drop Disney+ and Hulu. In the end, Disney judged sticking with Kimmel the safer bet.
At the same time, the FCC is reviewing rules that allow a single company to own unlimited TV stations nationwide, provided their combined reach doesn’t exceed 39% of U.S. households. By June, regulators were weighing raising that cap, a move critics warned would concentrate even more power. Free Press, a nonprofit, called the idea “wildly dangerous.” Still, Nexstar announced plans to buy Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal that would only be possible if the cap rose.
So what does this mean for student journalists who are the next generation of reporters curious about the world around them? Seeing how easily a powerful company can silence a program sends a chilling message. As senior student journalist Emma Moran put it, “the whole thing with Jimmy Kimmel worries me because I think of the APUSH class I took last year when we were learning about monopolies and how it becomes hard to unite when voices are censored.”
Democracy depends on a wide marketplace of ideas, not one controlled by three or four corporations. The risk is that bold voices, whether comedians or critics, never reach the audience at all.
For now, the lesson is clear: the First Amendment guarantees the right to speak, but not the guarantee of a microphone in every home.
Kimmel’s return was a small victory for expression, though in many cities his voice was still absent. The silence left behind may have delivered the most telling punchline of all.
For student journalists, that silence should feel personal. If large corporations can erase a late-night host’s platform with one decision, what does that mean for high school writers trying to question authority or spark conversations in their own communities?
The lesson is not just about Jimmy Kimmel but about all of us who pick up a pen or open a laptop to tell stories. Journalism, whether on the national stage or in a school newspaper, thrives only when a diversity of voices can be heard. Protecting that space is the responsibility of the next generation of reporters just as much as it is for the media giants of today.
