Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night TV Is an uncertain victory for the Free Press.

The return of Jim Kimmel to late night television should not give a false sense of security to free press advocates either in the United States or Canada.
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Canada is no bright coloured rose for the Free Press either, with the American-owned Postmedia dominating so much of our print journalism and Big Tech firms like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta fighting Canada’s attempts to gain a fair share of their profits made in this country.

When this writer campaigned in 2021 for the end of the Irving monopoly ownership of the English language press in New Brunswick, a friend cautioned “be careful what you wish for” when Postmedia stepped into the Irvings’ shoes. The argument was in line with the adage, “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.”

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Despite flashes of good journalism coming from writers such as Andrew Waugh, John Chilibeck or Adam Huras, the editorial stance of the Telegraph-Journal is every bit as stodgy as it was when that newspaper was part of the Irving press.

Meanwhile in Nova Scotia, Halifax’s Chronicle Herald, another Postmedia daily lives up to its joking reputation of being the “Chronically Horrid”. Last Saturday’s issue (Sept. 20) featured 11 full pages of comics and puzzles of various descriptions.

A certain amount of humour and diversion has aways been a part of newspaper journalism, but 11 pages…really!

Post Media is known for buying up all the newspapers it can, keeping as much as possible of the money-making aspects such as advertising, and then stripping the papers of costly items such as reporters and editors.

Donald Trump said that reporters who cover his administration negatively have broken the law…He said this a day after asserting that broadcasters should potentially lose their licenses over negative coverage of him.

“They’ll take a great story, and they’ll make it bad,” Trump said. “See, I think that’s really illegal.”
 
Fortunately for the Free Press, Republican U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have spoken up strongly on behalf of press freedom. In both cases, Cruz and Paul have been careful to criticize Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission, rather than President Trump directly.

Nonetheless, Texas Senator Cruz spoke eloquently on behalf of the Free Press: “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what speech we don’t.” Cruz continued that if this sort of thinking is adopted “every conservative in America is going to regret it.”

The Republican Senators speaking on behalf of the Free Press appeared to stop President Trump in his tracks.

Diversion is one of Trump’s specialties. He appeared to reach in and pull a new rabbit out of his hat. Along with his Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., hardly a leader in the cause of the beneficial effect of vaccinations, Trump and his Health Secretary went very far in linking the use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) by women during pregnancy to causing autism in children.
While various studies have shown a link between Tylenol and problems in neurological development in children, numerous experts have discounted the link of Tylenol with autism. For instance, Health Canada is pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump's claim. 

Health Canada said acetaminophen is a recommended treatment for pain and fever during pregnancy, and should be used as directed by a doctor, at "the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration." It noted untreated fever and pain can pose health risks to a fetus. 

"There is no conclusive evidence that using acetaminophen as directed during pregnancy causes autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders," Health Canada said on its website. 

For Trump, the reference to Tylenol appears suspiciously like diverting public attention away from his problems about the Free Press.

For his part, Jimmy Kimmel sounded an emotional and respectful note on his return to late night television. He apologised for his remarks about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk being aligned with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

He also grew deeply emotional about Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, saying she forgives the shooting suspect in her husband’s death.

Kimmel’s return to late night TV may be tenuous, as a large percentage of ABC’s affiliates are not signing on for his show.

But Kimmel makes a good point for the ages: “If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that. If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple just like dominoes. One by one, they’ll go down.”