Israel Balderas, assistant professor of journalism at Elon University, has been interviewed by several television news outlets about First Amendment concerns that have arisen following the death of Charlie Kirk.
Elon University Assistant Professor of Journalism Israel Balderas was interviewed by WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina; WVEC in Norfolk, Virginia and WGHP in High Point, North Carolina about the First Amendment and political polarization following the killing of Charlie Kirk and the temporary suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” by ABC.
Kimmel’s show was pulled from the air by the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent company, after comments he made about the motives of the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September. The decision to pull the show also came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr spoke on a podcast, calling Kimmel’s comments “truly sick,” and said the agency would have a strong case to hold Disney accountable. Nexstar Communications Group, which operates 23 ABC stations around the country also announced it would pull Kimmel’s show.
Balderas, who is a First Amendment attorney and a former television journalist, says these cases present learning opportunities for his students.
“There’s this theory about the First Amendment and that is that the marketplace of ideas matters in a free society because the truth and the falsehood of claims do battle in the marketplace of ideas and we believe that, here in a truthful society, the truth will prevail,” Balderas told WCNC. “In this case, Nexstar and Sinclair, who own TV stations that have FCC licenses, felt that for them to serve the public interest, they could not air Jimmy Kimmel anymore. And look, those are market forces. Is that a lot of power by a corporation? Absolutely. But that’s a different issue. We’ve been having media consolidation for years and years. It is a concern on the First Amendment, and now people are starting to see it’s first among all the other rights because this matters. Freedom matters. Individual expression matters.”
The program returned on Tuesday, Sept. 23, but both Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group announced they would not be airing the show on their stations.
“When Disney originally cancelled Jimmy Kimmel, it was because there were market pressures,” Balderas told WVEC. “You had two big companies, Nexstar and Sinclair, who said ‘we’re not going to carry Jimmy Kimmel because we believe under the public interest principle that we are obligated to fill because of our licenses, we got to take care of our audiences.’ And certainly that played out over the last ten days.”
On Sept. 26, the ownership groups announced the show would return that night.
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I think in this time we want to treat others with civility, with love, see each other for who we are, we all bleed red, we all hurt, and I think instead of looking at each other like we’re enemies, as the president has said about the people that oppose his ideas, we should look at each other like citizens,” Balderas told WGHP FOX 8’s “Swing State.”