When it comes to journalism, it’s been ominous for a while. Venture capital and private investment has gutted news services, newspapers have shut down and folded, and there’s been attacks coming from all sides in an attempt to censor and reign in their right and duty to report the news freely.

Once again, the FCC and its chair Brendan Carr are attacking Disney and ABC over comments Jimmy Kimmel made on his late night show. It involves a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses, ordering its eight owned-and-operated stations to renew their broadcast licenses ahead of schedule. That’s not currently due to at least 2028. Via Business Insider:

ABC was directed by the FCC to file early renewals for its licensed TV stations by May 28, or within 30 days. This order applies to the eight affiliate stations owned by ABC, including those in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Disney has confirmed that the company had received the FCC’s order about the accelerated license review.

Kimmel made a joke on his show saying First Lady Melania Trump had the “glow of an expectant widow,” explained as a reference to the age difference between her and her much older husband, President Trump. The comment was made before Saturday’s reported attempted attack during the White House Correspondents Dinner. That failed attack has been used by the right to attack the left claiming their rhetoric incites violence. First Lady Melania Trump took to social media demanding ABC fire Kimmel over the joke that they’re branding a threat and calling it hateful rhetoric. Kimmel defended the joke on Monday’s episode. He stated:

It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.

Business Insider reports that the FCC under Carr is investigating Disney for its DEI practices. From a filing:

The FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination

The right has made it a mission to further mold the media to fit their worldview. After its purchase by Paramount, CBS News has been scrutinized for its editorial shift right. The current attempt by Paramount to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery would also give it control of CNN, another popular destination for news. Paramount’s David Ellison’s father also has a part of TikTok, a major news source for younger generations.

But beyond what its done to CBS, Paramount has shown its teeth towards individuals willing to scrutinize and speak against its purchase of WBD, teasing a possible era of blacklists and retribution if it succeeds.

The AV Club has a report that a columnist at The Ankler who has spoken out against the acquisition was blacklisted by Paramount. We too have been vocal against the media consolidation, so if there is a blacklist, please add us.

Richard Rushfield recently attended CinemaCon and was handing out swag, a pin that read “Block the Merger.” Paramount didn’t appreciate that and pulled its advertising from The Ankler and talent was instructed to not speak to its reporters. It’s absolutely a canary in the coal mine, and another example of why this merger should not go through.

Is this a future we can expect for sites like ours? We have been vocal against the megamerger but also have written some not flattering news concerning DC Comics which would be owned by Paramount under this deal. Will we see retaliation if another scandal were to hit the publisher and we covered it?

It’s not hard to see all of this as a pattern, and an ominous one for independent journalism, even journalism that focuses on entertainment.

Newsarama has recently seen its final staffer exit, sunsetting what was a major entertainment news site, officially killed off by its parent company Future PLC after initially being folded into GamesRadar.

It’s all reasons for the comic, television, video game, tabletop game, toy, movie industries, and more to support independent journalism that’s not at the mercy of large corporations looking to profit and maximize clicks and views or the mercy of VCs looking to suck money from their investment like the capitalist vampires that they are.

There’s a war being waged against the fourth estate and it’s not just a moment calling for solidarity but a moment to lift up the voices who are free to challenge, criticize, and report, exactly what journalism should be doing.