ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel after a joke about the response from the right to the assassination of Charlie Kirk and after a threat from the FCC chair.
This week on Consider This,
what it says about free speech and about the business of network television.
Listen to Consider This on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.
President Trump is lashing out at major news networks,
claiming that overwhelmingly negative coverage of him amounts to a violation of free speech.
When somebody is given 97% of the stories are bad about a person,
that's no longer free speech, that's no longer, that's just cheating.
And they cheat.
And they become really members of the Democrat National Committee.
That's what they are, the networks, in my opinion.
Free speech advocates warn if the government begins punishing news outlets for negative coverage,
it sets a dangerous precedent,
one that threatens viewpoint discrimination and undermines the press' role in checking power.
A judge in Florida has thrown out a $15 billion lawsuit filed by President Trump against the New York Times and four of its journalists.
The judge said the complaint was too long and violated a federal civil procedure rule by omitting a short and plain statement of why the court should rule in the president's favor.
The court has given Trump 28 days to file a shorter, revised complaint.
A federal court says the White House can't start withholding billions of dollars from a group of states that refuse to turn over the personal data of food assistance recipients.
NPR's Jew Joffy Block reports.