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Wednesday, April 29, 2026
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Good morning. Here's the latest on Josh D'Amaro, Brendan Carr, Ted Cruz, Stephen Colbert, ESPN, David Bauder, Meta, and many more... |
Let's imagine what it's like to be Josh D'Amaro right now.
You became the CEO of Disney about six weeks ago. You don't want to be a political actor. But President Trump's bullying is forcing you into a First Amendment fight you never asked for.
You know it's not a coincidence that the FCC is challenging your ABC broadcast licenses just as Trump is demanding you fire Jimmy Kimmel over a joke.
You might not have liked the joke. You might have thought it was tasteless. But it doesn't really matter now.
You know that your American employee base — which, it's safe to say, is at least as anti-Trump as the overall US population — is watching every move Disney does or doesn't make.
You know your legal case to defend the stations is strong. After all, Trump has been retributively threatening your licenses for years. It's a wonder Brendan Carr didn't do this sooner.
You know you can afford the legal bills. But you might still question whether a prolonged fight is in the company's best interests overall, since broadcast assets are declining in the digital, streaming age.
You might feel like you're in a no-win situation. Every option carries costs.
You know that Disney's December 2024 settlement with Trump — which was justified as a strategic move to avoid an unpredictable trial — has not aged well.
You hear people like Sen. Adam Schiff say that the payoff didn't buy Disney any peace. "This," Schiff said yesterday, "should be a lesson to all who capitulate to the president: You cannot buy his favor, you can only rent it."
You know that last September, the messy response to the first Kimmelgate did some damage to the brand.
You know that getting out of the Kimmel business, or the station business altogether, would risk even worse brand damage.
But you also recognize that keeping Kimmel on the air amid right-wing outrage is also really uncomfortable. You don't like seeing Disney's logo on screen during TV segments about a Trump attack. You don't want protesters outside Disneyland again.
You know that Disney has all sorts of business before the US government. (Good thing you got that ESPN/NFL deal through the Justice Department already.)
At the same time, Disney's corporate interests span the globe just like your cruise ships. And Trump remains deeply unpopular abroad.
You, even more than most CEOs, want to sell products that appeal across the political spectrum and around the world. You have no interest in alienating anyone.
But you know that Trump thrives on forcing institutions into public loyalty tests and threatening to punish those who fail.
You know that most Americans don't want the heavy hand of government to control what's on television or what jokes a comedian can tell.
You know that this threat to free speech is an issue that unites liberals and libertarians. Today's Washington Post editorial board notes that "the market was working fine before the president's intervention."
You also know that Trump tends to move on to a new target every day. You remember that he threatened to sue ABC for putting Kimmel back on air last fall — but never followed through.
So you know this immediate heat will dissipate, but could erupt again at any time.
You see that MAGA media is scrutinizing not just Kimmel, but "The View," too. The FCC has an open investigation into the talk show, purportedly over "equal time" rule violations, just in time for the midterms.
You hear that staffers in your ABC News division are watching all of this closely, fearing this will have a chilling effect on editorial decision-making, from news segments to "View" bookings.
You know that history will judge the decisions that are made in this moment.
You know you don't want to regret how you acted 10 or 20 years from now.
And if Disney doesn't draw the line here, who will?
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Kimmel's implicit message last night was: The show goes on.
The comedian didn't drill deeper into the "expectant widow" controversy, Trump's call for his firing or the FCC's action. Instead, he used a satirical monologue about King Charles and Queen Camilla's visit to the WH to highlight the hypocrisy of a quip the president made about his marriage to Melania Trump.
Kimmel played a clip of Trump speaking Tuesday about his parents' 63-year marriage, turning to Melania and joking, "That's a record we won't be able to match, darling, I'm sorry."
"Wait a minute," Kimmel playfully asked his audience, "did he just make a joke about his death? Only Donald Trump would demand that I be fired for making a joke about his old age and then a day later, go out and make a joke about his old age." Here's my recap...
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Taking Disney's temperature |
As I've been saying on CNN, Disney has been standing tall amid Trumpworld's pressure campaign.
The company immediately responded to the FCC order by saying it has been operating "in full compliance with FCC rules" and will "show that through the appropriate legal channels." Importantly, the statement invoked the First Amendment, signaling it is willing to fight.
Experts say Disney would likely win that fight if the government actually tries to revoke the eight licenses the company holds. "The legal standard for denying a license renewal is almost insurmountable," public interest lawyer Andrew Jay Schwartzman told me.
"A hearing and subsequent judicial review would take years" — meaning, longer than Trump's time in office — "during which time the broadcaster can continue to operate as normal," he added.
Puck's Eriq Gardner pointed out that if Disney "wants to go on offense, the selective timing and targeting of the review could itself tee up a First Amendment claim" against the FCC. Gardner thinks a "preemptive suit, even a bid for declaratory relief, isn't out of the question."
Otherwise, this will drag on for quite some time, mostly in the bureaucratic muck,
>> "I'm glad to see that Disney is going to push back, because it has the First Amendment on its side," Anna
Gomez, the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner, said on CNN's "Erin Burnett Outfront" last night.
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ABC News goes near-silent on Kimmelgate 2.0 |
Liam Reilly writes: ABC News has had very little to say about Kimmel and the FCC since this latest controversy began. On digital, the only reporting about Kimmelgate 2.0 has been a brief, unbylined piece about the FCC order that omits any mention of Trump or Kimmel.
And over on TV, "World News Tonight with David Muir" did not mention the FCC's action against Disney. The same goes for "Good Morning America" this morning. The only time Kimmel was mentioned during "GMA" was in a promo for tonight's episode.
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Sen. Ted Cruz spoke out against the FCC's threat against ABC last fall, and now he's pushing back again. "It is not government's job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police," he told Punchbowl, joining dozens of Democratic lawmakers who made similar statements. Many of the Dems, like Sen. Ed Markey, called the FCC move "authoritarian censorship."
Cruz's stand is especially noteworthy, though, because he has the power to do something. As chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, Cruz can call for hearings, haul Carr in for testimony and create some political heat.
>> Some other conservatives agree with Cruz: "The government should stay completely out of this controversy," Glenn Beck said on his podcast.
>> But don't overlook the MAGA media rage against ABC: Figures like Benny Johnson are cheering the FCC’s aggressiveness and claiming Disney is getting conservatives killed. The rhetoric is unhinged.
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Disney, of course, is not the only big media company that holds FCC broadcast licenses. Companies like Comcast, Paramount and Fox Corp are watching this drama closely. Paramount is moving closer to acquiring CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery. (And as Kaitlan Collins reported last night, Paramount CEO David Ellison was at the state dinner last night.)
One of the smartest bits of analysis I read yesterday came from Tom Wheeler, who chaired the FCC under Barack Obama, and told The Guardian's Jeremy Barr that there are multiple messages emanating from Carr's move against Disney.
"There's a message that goes to the MAGA base that says, 'Boy, I'm going at them.' There's a message that goes to the president that says, 'Boy, am I carrying forth what you want me to do.' And then there's a message to every licensee of the FCC that says, 'I can do this to you too.'"
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More notable notes and quotes |
>> NBC's Daniel Arkin has a roundup of all the First Amendment advocates blasting the FCC's move here.
>> FIRE said that while "the FCC may claim these actions are based on DEI policies and have nothing to do with Jimmy Kimmel," the "timing makes it clear these justifications are a fig leaf." This is a campaign "against a disfavored broadcaster" that "violates the First Amendment, pure and simple," the organization tweeted.
>> Aaron Blake makes the key connection between the Kimmel pressure and the new James Comey indictment: "Comey and Kimmel cases drive home Trump's dim view of foes' free speech."
>> Clayton Weimers of Reporters Without Borders said: "Congress needs to step up to rein in an out-of-control FCC."
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Jameel Jaffer, exec director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, said the action against ABC is part of a broader attempt by Trump to “consolidate control over what Americans see and hear on the radio, television, and social media." If Trump gets his way, Jaffer said, "we'll have only government-aligned media organizations that broadcast only government-approved news and commentary. It would be difficult to imagine an outcome more corrosive to democracy or more offensive to the First Amendment."
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John Koblin's new interview with Stephen Colbert is a must-read. Among other things, Colbert says that while "I do not dispute" CBS's financial "rationale" for canceling his show, "it's possible that two things can be true."
"Broadcast can be in trouble," yes, "but less than two years before they called to say it's over, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed."
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Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta all report earnings after the bell today, and BI's Joe Ciolli writes that "the already-lofty stakes around the reports have been ratcheted even higher..." |
'Disney has decided to keep ESPN' |
That's the scoop from Business Insider's Peter Kafka, who notes that "the question of whether Disney would turn ESPN into a stand-alone company has hung over the company for years," but the aforementioned Josh D'Amaro "has decided to keep ESPN in-house, for now," believing its presence "will help its pivot to streaming..."
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David Bauder retiring from The AP |
One of the foremost reporters on the media beat, and an all-around good guy, David Bauder is bidding adieu to The Associated Press. He shared the news on Facebook:
"So…remember the story I wrote about The AP offering buyouts to many of its employees? Well, I decided to raise my hand to volunteer and Thursday is my last day after nearly 40 years. Truthfully, the time to do something else was approaching, the offer was generous and if it clears a path for a younger colleague, so much the better..."
Bauder expressed admiration for his colleagues and concluded, "The media beat has made me an evangelist for journalism, and I don't expect that to end."
I just want to say thanks here because I learned so much from Bauder over the years. Good luck, AP; he is irreplaceable.
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>> Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles has joined X "to share occasional updates about the work we do at the White House," she wrote. "I welcome different viewpoints. Follow along for insights and information." (X)
>> The Guardian US now boasts "an audience larger than The Washington Post's, backed by a voluntary contribution model that has attracted 700,000 supporters, 500,000 of them recurring," Brian Morrissey reports, noting that "reader revenue has grown 35% a year for the past two years, with a still-growing 150-person newsroom." (The Rebooting)
>> "Bloomberg is testing a chatbot-style interface for the Terminal, ASKB (pronounced ask-bee), built atop a basket of different language models." (WIRED)
>> Graydon Carter has opened up about Air Mail's sale to Puck, telling Lachlan Cartwright, "We just sort of ran out of money... this was sort of forced on us. Not my idea." (YouTube)
>> Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner told Politico journalists this week that if they do not feel comfortable "with a mission statement that includes support for Israel's right to exist and other principles known as 'the essentials,' they should find work elsewhere," Matthew Kassel reports. (Jewish Insider)
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Meta found in breach of EU law
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"The European Commission has found that Meta breached EU law by failing to prevent under-13s from accessing its platforms, as scrutiny of the tech giant’s handling of child safety intensifies," CNBC's Sawdah Bhaimiya writes. Meta says "we disagree with these preliminary findings." Now the commission will move toward a final investigation and consider a big $$$ fine...
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Hadas Gold writes: Elon Musk took the stand yesterday in his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, warning that AI could "kill us all." He walked jurors through how he helped co-found OpenAI as a nonprofit and said he wants to avoid a "Terminator"-style ending for humanity.
Before the jury was seated, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers scolded Musk for his recent X posts about the case and made him agree to stop posting during the trial. CNN's Samantha Delouya, Ramishah Maruf and I put together the key takeaways from day one here.
Looking ahead: Musk will return to the stand today for more questions from his attorney before OpenAI's lawyers will get the chance to cross-examine him. They'll likely press Musk on when and what he knew about OpenAI's plans to develop a for-profit subsidiary, and whether this lawsuit is just a way to knock down a top competitor to xAI, his own AI company.
Other witnesses we could hear from this week: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; OpenAI president Greg Brockman; and Shivon Zillis, an executive at Musk's companies who is also the mother of four of his kids and a former OpenAI board member.
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Unions push for Netflix antitrust probe |
"Consumer groups and professional trade unions, including the Writers Guild of America West, have written a letter to the FTC and the Justice Department urging them to investigate Netflix for antitrust," Sara Fischer reports for Axios...
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A few lovely Hollywood links
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>> "Bertelsmann will combine its music division BMG with rival Concord in a deal that would create the world's fourth‑largest music company behind industry leaders Universal, Sony and Warner." (Reuters)
>> "Los Angeles is starting to see the impact of California's expansion to its film and TV subsidy program," Winston Cho writes. (THR)
>> "Netflix has renewed the Duffer Brothers' animated spinoff 'Stranger Things: Tales From '85' for a second season." (THR)
>> "Laura Dern has joined the cast of 'The White Lotus' Season 4, filling the role that was vacated by Helena Bonham Carter, who exited the show during the first week of filming." (TheWrap)
>> Apple TV dropped the official teaser for "Ted Lasso" season four. (YouTube)
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