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#firstamendment

19 posts17 participants1 post today

#Skydance deal allows #Trump’s #FCC to “#CensorSpeech” and “#SilenceDissent” on #CBS

FCC now has “never-before-seen controls” over a #newsroom, commissioner warns.

by Ashley Belanger – Jul 25, 2025

Excerpt: "Like many protesting #Colbert's firing, Gomez suggested that the FCC's requirements to approve the Skydance acquisition 'may only be' the 'beginning' of the Trump administration's #censorship and ongoing 'assault on the #FirstAmendment.'

"Notably, the White House issued a rare statement in response to a recent #SouthPark episode Paramount aired, which mockingly depicted Trump seducing Satan. The White House fumed that 'no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.' But Trump (whose current term's ratings are at an all-time low) taking the time to acknowledge the episode drew jokes on social media that South Park may have riled Trump enough to scramble the Paramount acquisition approval. At the very least, the statement shows that Trump still cares what people say about him on TV. Trump has long been considered the US president most obsessed with TV, and critics now fear that he has seized new powers to more effectively block negative coverage."

Read more:
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

Ars Technica · Skydance deal allows Trump’s FCC to “censor speech” and “silence dissent” on CBSBy Ashley Belanger

#Skydance deal allows Trump’s #FCC to “censor speech” and “silence dissent” on #CBS

But the agency's approval drew fiery dissent from the only #Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, after requiring written commitments from Skydance that allow the government to influence #editorial decisions at CBS. Gomez accused the FCC of "imposing never-before-seen controls over #newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the #FirstAmendment and the law."
#censor

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

Ars Technica · Skydance deal allows Trump’s FCC to “censor speech” and “silence dissent” on CBSBy Ashley Belanger
Continued thread

#Harvard, he said, “should have read the fine print.”

Harvard has sharply disputed the idea that it condones discrimination. Steven P. Lehotsky, a lawyer for Harvard, told Judge Burroughs on Monday that the #Trump admin’s quest to punish Harvard was a “blatant, unrepentant violation of the #FirstAmendment.”

He added, “It’s the constitutional third rail, or it should be, for the government to insist it can engage in viewpoint discrimination.”