Welcome to a Thursday afternoon edition of Unmade.
Today: As the US network ABC kowtows to Trump over Jimmy Kimmel, and the Australian ABC pisses off the US president with sharp questions about his financial affairs, a chill wind blows for freedom of speech.
It’s your last chance to sign up for a paid membership of Unmade and lock in all of the current benefits. Next month, we’re going to stop accepting new paying members of Unmade. Instead we’ll be offering membership of an expanded Mumbrella Pro as we bring the two brands closer together.
All Unmade membership perks will be carried across, including complimentary tickets to REmade, Unlock, and Compass for our annual paying members. These won’t be available to anyone else as part of the new Mumbrella Pro membership.
Your paid membership also includes exclusive analysis and access to our content archive which goes behind the paywall six weeks after publication.
Upgrade now or miss out.
Trump vs The ABC(s)
So cancel culture is back, in the US at least.
Today’s news that late night US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live has been “indefinitely” suspended from the airwaves by the Disney-owned ABC network verges on chilling. Kimmel marks Donald Trump’s greatest scalp to date.
At least in the case of the forthcoming cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by Paramount’s CBS, the network was able to argue that the reason was commercial, even if tainted by political pragmatism.
For consequences at least, Trump’s run-in this week with the Australian ABC is an order of magnitude lower, although this afternoon’s news that Aunty has been locked out of tonight’s Downing Street press conference dials things up somewhat. The ABC’s Americas editor John Lyons’ questions about Trump family finances were the sort of thing US White House journalists should have been asking every day.
The last few days’ developments in the US have seen a string of people who dared not to venerate political activist Charlie Kirk after his murder lose their jobs. That includes media personalities who made clear-eyed observations about Kirk’s own negative contribution towards the public discourse before his death.
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was fired after sharing her views on gun violence - and statements previously made by Kirk - on social media. So was MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd for (accurately) saying on air that Kirk had promoted hate speech against some groups.
For a country supposed to be a beacon of free speech - the first amendment and all that - things have taken a turn under Trump.
Political and business leverage is being used to silence not just Trump’s direct critics, but those who do not share his world view. It’s cancel culture with backed by an enforcer.
That was the case with Kimmel in particular. In what might prove to be one of his final monologues for the ABC network, Kimmel told viewers: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Soon after, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist who regulates US media, said on a (right wing) podcast: “Frankly, when you see stuff like this — I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead.”
The easy way or the hard way. Like a cliched police procedural.
Piling on the pressure, one of the ABC’s major affiliates, Nexstar, said it was going to stop airing Kimmel. Nexstar is currently trying to merge with media company Tegna, and needs the FCC to authorise the deal.
That’s similar to the situation that was faced by CBS whose owner Paramount was waiting on FCC approval of the Skydance takeover when it decided to axe Trump critic Colbert.
Another of the ABC’s affiliates, Sinclair Media, also said it was dropping the Kimmel feed, before ABC announced that the show itself would be indefinitely suspended.
In the circumstances, it’s hard to see a route for Kimmel to come back on air without making an abject, humiliating and inauthentic apology. Which means it’s hard to see a route for him to come back on air at all.
The whole thing is high peril for Disney. Having been taken off air against his will, Kimmel is likely lawyering up. And what does it do to the ratings when you can’t air certain shows in case of offending the President?
The bigger picture is even worse. The new norm in American politics appears to be that any media outlet over which the Trump administration holds political leverage is expected to censor criticism and toe a line.
This week Trump also filed a ridiculous lawsuit against the New York Times.
What’s different with all of these cancellations for saying the wrong thing is that the pressure is not just commercial. Consumer boycotts are one thing. Presidential power shamelessly used to squeeze media businesses is something else.
It’s a frightening playbook for Australia if we ever see the rise of an extremist politician. Here we lack even the protection of the first amendment, or indeed a constitution.
Hopefully for Australia, it’s a mere cautionary tale. While we enjoy more moderate politics from both sides (even if the government is currently trying to undermine the Freedom of Information rules), now is the time for the media to lobby for more protections of freedom of speech to be enshrined in Australian law. By the time a Trumplike character rises in Australian politics, it would be too late.
Vinyl’s slide hits 19.1%
Music publishing and platforms house Vinyl Group saw the biggest drop on the Unmade Index today, losing 5.1% as the company’s fall over the last five days grew to 19.1%. Vinyl Group’s market capitalisation closed on $126m.
Audio players Southern Cross Austereo and Sports Entertainment Group also dipped today, losing 0.6% and 1.5% respectively.
Out of home player Ooh Media was the only other Unmade Index stock to go backwards today, losing 0.6%.
Research house Pureprofile was the biggest winner today, gaining 4.9%. Seven West Media gained 3.7% while rival Nine was up by 0.9%.
Print and marketing conglomerate Ive Group gained 2.1%
The Unmade Index closed on 480.6 points, up by 1.2 points for the day.
More from Mumbrella…
Time to leave you to your evening. We’ll be back with an audio-led edition in the morning in which my colleague Hal Crawford talks to former agency wunderkind Mat Baxter about his fascinating new skincare brand venture.
Have a great night
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
