In recent months, two large media conglomerates, Paramount and Disney, have taught the country a valuable lesson: some Americans love unregulated free market capitalism more than free speech.
In July, “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert announced that CBS, owned by Paramount, would end the show in May 2026. Speculation behind the announcement suggested it was a direct compromise from Paramount to ensure the Trump Administration would approve the merger between Skydance Media and Paramount.
David Ellison, whose father is billionaire Larry Ellison and the founder of Oracle, owns Skydance Media. Both father and son are significant donors and supporters of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.
Newsweek recently reported that father and son were building a MAGA Media Empire, which currently includes Skydance Media, Paramount and CBS. The duo is also in negotiations to pick up TikTok and bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN and HBO.
Rupert Murdoch, with Fox News and Elon Musk, with X (formerly known as Twitter), have already demonstrated how wealth and power can take over a media business and use it to espouse right-wing political and cultural rhetoric disguised as “news.”
If the Ellisons are successful, and there is ample evidence to suggest they will be, then MAGA will become normative on every American television, movie theater and communication device. The Ellisons might be banking on the evidence that America is turning more conservative, backed by a January 2025 Gallup poll that concluded 37 percent identify as conservative, 34 percent as moderate, and 25 percent as liberal.
More recently, ABC, owned by Disney, announced the suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel. While the reason given for the suspension was that Kimmel had spoken offensively about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, other speculation had to do with comments made by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr.
Carr was the guest on a right-wing podcast discussing the rhetoric surrounding Kirk’s assassination and legacy. When Kimmel came up in the conversation, Carr suggested local affiliates should “push back” and “preempt” broadcasting the late-night comedian’s show.
Carr offered, “When you see stuff like this, I mean, look, 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 you know there’s going to be additional work for the F.C.C. ahead.”
He continued, “I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to pre-empt.”
Why did Carr focus on local affiliates and not Disney and ABC?
The New York Times, along with other independent journalists, pointed out that Nextstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates, is seeking to purchase a competitor, Tenga, which owns 13 ABC affiliates. For the purchase to succeed, Carr must give his approval by waiving the cap on the number of local stations a single company can own.
When Disney and ABC announced Kimmel would return to the broadcast this week, Nexstar and Sinclair announced they would preempt the show and not air it moving forward. In 2017, comedian and host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver, revealed the forced messaging by Sinclair on local affiliates’ news divisions.
Another example is this video, forcing local television news divisions to repeat the same message to their local audiences. When run side by side, the evidence is undisputed that Sinclair is pushing its political ideology onto local news divisions and communications.
After watching and reading about the terrifying influence media companies like Nexstar and Sinclair, as well as families like the Eliisons, are having on shaping news and opinion, the time to support independent media is more crucial now than ever before.
At Good Faith Media (GFM), we take pride in our independent journalism, which upholds the highest ethical standards. We believe in seeking the truth, then reporting factual information. When we make mistakes, which we do occasionally, we ensure that we hold ourselves accountable and correct those mistakes.
Often, we let individuals and organizations speak for themselves, publishing and releasing messaging in their own words. When those comments are factual, we state them as such. When they are muddled or untruthful, we point it out. When Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” we believed him.
The remarkable editing team of Senior Editor Craig Nash and Associate Editor Starlette Thomas always fact-checks GFM’s editorials and opinions.
Additionally, we are not opposed to publishing views that differ from our own. We believe in open and honest dialogue, provided that opposing views do not dehumanize others.
Now more than ever, independent media companies and journalism organizations, such as Good Faith Media, need your support. GFM and other independent media companies are in a fight for the soul of our future.
If giant media conglomerates are allowed to centralize their power and authority, then they will consolidate their messaging and control the flow of information for generations to come.
Good Faith Media needs your financial support! Please consider donating today in support of independent media and journalism.
Finally, let’s recall the words of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Baptist from Alabama, Hugo Black:
In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the government. The press was protected so that it could bear the secrets of government and inform the people.
So let it be said. So let it reign supreme.
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