by Laura Glesby
Two dozen people gathered outside WTNH’s Elm Street headquarters on Thursday to call on the ABC-affiliated, Nexstar-owned station to resist censorship and air Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The protest followed a decision by the Texas-based media company Nexstar to discontinue Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its local TV stations, including New Haven’s WTNH, after the late night host’s comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk angered conservatives.
ABC and its parent company, Disney, canceled Kimmel’s show after that backlash last week — and then reversed the decision on Tuesday, reviving the show to an unusually large audience of at least 6.2 million viewers.
Nexstar, however, is still preventing WTNH and other affiliates from airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! So is fellow media corporation Sinclair, Inc.
The outcry over Kimmel’s show centered around the host’s comment that “We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.”
Notable among the critics was FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who threatened consequences for ABC, stating, “We can do this the easy or the hard way.”
The protesters gathered at noon outside WTNH’s headquarters on Thursday.
Nexstar happens to be currently seeking clearance from the FCC on a proposed merger with another broadcast company, Tegna.
In an email, WTNH Managing Editor Joseph Wenzel wrote, “We have been advised to decline comment.” He referred the Independent to a Nexstar spokesperson, who did not respond to a request for comment.
Thursday’s protest was organized by Connecticut Citizen Action Group and emceed by the group’s associate director, Liz Dupont-Diehl.
It drew a handful of politicians including Middletown State Sen. Matt Lesser, Stratford State Rep. Kaitlyn Shake, and Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin.
Downtown/East Rock Alder Eli Sabin calls out the federal government’s pressure on stations like ABC to affect the media accessible to consumers.
They were joined by at least ten reporters — though no one from WTNH arrived until well after the protest was over.
None of the protesters whom the Independent spoke to described themselves as devoted Kimmel fans. They showed up to the protest, rather, because of a broader concern about government pressure on media outlets — and the dangers of complying with that pressure.
“It’s Jimmy Kimmel today,” said Shake. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
Gemeem Davis spotlights the Washington Post’s decision to fire columnist Karen Attiah over social media posts about Kirk.
Bridgeport Generation Now Co-Director Gemeem Davis noted, in fact, that Kimmel is not the only media personality to lose a platform after commenting on Kirk’s death.
“A Black woman lost her job at the Washington Post,” said Davis, referring to former Post columnist Karen Attiah, whom the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper fired for social media posts about Kirk.
Sabin argued that the root of Kimmel’s suppression comes from the Trump administration’s concerted efforts to exert control over media companies.
“They try to get unfriendly reporters off the air. They try to sue outlets” for journalistic coverage, he said.
“Stalin and Lenin both suppressed the media. So do Xi and Putin,” said protester James Stirling.
Christine McGregor told those at the rally, “We need to be very discriminating” when it comes to assessing news outlets’ trustworthiness. She wondered aloud, “Does Nexstar tell them what to cover?”
The corporate consolidation and financial disinvestment affecting American media outlets also contributes to distrust, said Gaye Hyre. “They’re all laying off reporters right and left.”
Local reporters including the Register’s Arnold Gold, the Mirror’s Mark Pazniokas, and CTNewsJunkie’s Donald Eng cover the protest.
Among six of the attendees who spoke to the Independent, a few called for a boycott of WTNH, though no one purported to be a regular WTNH news consumer.
James Stirling said he occasionally watches the BBC or PBS, but otherwise prefers to get his news from print outlets like the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Economist.
He also recommended the app Ground News, which compares news coverage from outlets with a variety of political leanings.
“I watch the weather” on WTNH, said Frank Panzarella. He said that while he called and sent letters of protest to the station, he doesn’t necessarily intend to boycott the channel, noting, “It’s good to watch the ones you disagree with.”
McGregor said that even before she decided to intentionally stop watching WTNH, she preferred to watch a different ABC-affiliated local news station based in New York — even though she lives in West Haven.
About ten minutes after the protest concluded — after nearly all of the attendees had dispersed and journalists from NBC Connecticut, WFSB, and several radio and print outlets had left — a pair of WTNH reporters arrived on the scene with a camera.
They asked the two remaining protesters if they’d like to be interviewed — an opportunity that the protesters declined.
The reporters walked away without footage.
NBC Connecticut’s Kyle Jones discusses media trust with protester Christine McGregor before formally interviewing her on the air.