There was a lot of talk about free speech in the aftermath of Jimmy Kimmel being suspended. Critics took aim at local TV station owners Nexstar and Sinclair for pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air and at Disney for putting the show on hiatus, but during a recent industry conference, a key executive at Sinclair Broadcasting Group pushed back on that narrative and said the company had a "fiduciary responsibility” to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live. He later contrasted his own company with Meta’s social media properties like Facebook to try and prove his point.
The conference in question happened at NAB New York during the Local TV Strategies panel. Rob Weisbord, the COO and President of Local Media, was asked about the Kimmel situation, and he said the decision to pull the show wasn’t about free speech. Instead, it was about protecting its stations in local markets, presumably from FCC issues after Chairman Brendan Carr threatened regulatory action against ABC and its affiliates over Kimmel’s comments.
