Local broadcast professor sheds light on the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ show being pulled from air

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - ABC has announced that they will be pulling "Jimmy Kimmel Live" off air "indefinitely" after remarks about the suspect in Charlie Kirk's shooting.

ABC News is owned by Disney, and KRDO13 is owned by News Press and Gazette (NPG), a family-owned broadcast company.

Today, KRDO13 is speaking with Brian Wheeler, the head of Radio & Television at Pikes Peak State College (PPSC).

"The initial reaction, at least I personally had, was a bit of shock. I don't think it's unreasonable to react to something that happens that quickly after an event, especially in the world of corporate broadcasting, where things tend to go really slow, especially after many of the other events. But we've been seeing this happening, in education and pedagogy, we've seen people being disciplined and or being dismissed for comments made, because of the assassination," shared Brian Wheeler.

Wheeler explained how this is an unprecedented time in broadcasting when things are changing in ways many have never seen before.

"It's hard to put a pin on anything that quite equates to what's happening now, because we live in such unprecedented times. A lot is happening right now that's never been tested. That really doesn't have any sort of guidelines to it. And we're figuring it out as we go along, especially with these large company mergers happening. Paramount, Skydance, Nexstar and Tegna, we're seeing these larger companies try to stay on the good side of whichever administration is currently in, and that can deeply affect what their actions are," said Wheeler.

Wheeler detailed how, when millions and billions of dollars are on the line, it can change the way a company acts.

"I can't speak to what's going on in their minds. I can say that...on the business end of this merger. I would certainly want to stay on the FCC side and I would certainly want to stay on the president's good side," explained Wheeler, "Given how events transpired with the Jimmy Kimmel Show, I don't know that anything anyone outside the organization or outside of the immediate events is going to have a huge difference. Letter-writing campaigns have been successful in the past, depending on what they're doing. Of course, petitions and things like that. But when it comes down to a billion, multibillion-dollar merger, trying to stay safe oftentimes will come at the expense of perhaps what is First Amendment-friendly. But whether it does or not, that's entirely under ABC jurisdiction. And Disney's right, and I don't know if you've seen some of the recent stuff that's come out and said that they were kind of behind it right up until it came down to the to dollars and cents. The business, and whether we like it or not, this is show business, and we do have to recognize that at some point."

Wheeler says he tries to keep the politics out of the classroom and focus on the technology.

"We've always done is to try to keep the classroom as apolitical as possible, not to teach any specific side, but really just to give facts. And the wonderful part about Pikes Peak State College here is that we specialize in technology. So we are not really focused on in front of the camera. We're focused on making sure the shot is in focus, that the iris is set correctly, that the right thing goes to air at the right time, and that our students understand how to balance something correctly...But as far as teaching, ideology, or things like that, we tend to try to stay away from that. It just doesn't really fit our mission, which has always been to teach the technology of the class."

He said moving forward, it will be interesting to see how late-night talk shows operate.

"What I can say is, I don't know if a bigger opportunity has ever been handed to a single program, as has now been handed to Jimmy Fallon, because he is effectively the only game in town as of next year. And seeing what they're going to do with that, it's going to be very interesting," said Wheeler.

MORE DETAILS: ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Pulled: Here’s what ABC will air tonight

Other state leaders spoke out in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel Live being pulled.

If big corporations censor or silence a comedian to curry favor from the federal government, then we should all be concerned about what comes next for internet freedom, content creators, artists, podcasts, and the deplatforming of free speech. Free speech is essential to a free society. It’s no secret that media is evolving, but government needs to stop colluding with big corporations to deplatform voices they don’t happen to like.

- Colorado Governor Jared Polis

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser condemned the show being pulled.

"The Federal Communications Commission chair's threat to pull TV licenses to punish ABC based on Jimmy Kimmel's comments-which quickly resulted in his removal from the airwaves-should concern all Americans. That action was wrong, threatens free speech, and is dangerous.

In our democratic republic, the answer to speech we disagree with is more speech. If a statement is wrong, uninformed, or even tasteless-we're all free to disagree with the speaker's views and engage in discourse. That's how our republic works. Flexing government power and using federal agencies to silence (or to force private companies to silence) those who criticize government officials or express disfavored viewpoints-even abhorrent opinions-threatens the fabric of our republic.

This is not normal-and we must not treat it as normal. People and leaders from all political stripes must take a stand against this action and defend the First Amendment and the very foundation of our democratic republic."

-Attorney General Phil Weiser

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