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One way to gauge the intentions of would-be authoritarians is to see how far they tolerate the jesters. An early sign of Vladimir Putin’s quest to bring Russian media to heel was the 2001 axing of Kukly (Puppets), a TV show that often satirised the thin-skinned president. There were Putinesque echoes in last week’s suspension in the US of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show by Disney-owned ABC — two months after his fellow comic Stephen Colbert, to whom President Donald Trump has a similar aversion, was taken off air. Kimmel’s return this week after a noisy backlash is a notable reversal, even if nearly 70 local TV stations refused to screen his show. But the threats to US media freedom are only growing.
判断潜在威权主义者意图的一种方式，是看他们对讽刺者的容忍度。弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)意图驯化俄罗斯媒体的早期信号之一，是他在2001年砍掉了“Kukly”（傀儡），这档电视节目常常讽刺这位玻璃心总统。上周普京式的做法在美国重现——迪士尼旗下的ABC电视台暂停了吉米•基梅尔(Jimmy Kimmel)的深夜脱口秀，就在两个月前，同样遭到唐纳德•特朗普总统厌恶的喜剧演员斯蒂芬•科尔伯特(Stephen Colbert)的节目也被撤下。基梅尔本周在强烈反弹声中重返荧屏，尽管美国近70家地方电视台拒绝播放，这仍然是一次引人注目的逆转。但美国媒体自由面临的威胁正在不断加剧。
Not just the Kimmel and Colbert affairs but various tactics being used to stifle content that Trump dislikes seem to fit an established strongman-leader playbook. They include the use of lawsuits, law enforcement bodies and regulators to put pressure on media businesses and their owners.
不仅是基梅尔和科尔伯特事件，特朗普针对他不喜欢的内容所采取的各种手段，也符合威权领导人的常见剧本。这些手段包括利用诉讼、执法机构和监管部门向媒体公司及其所有者施压。
Kimmel appeared to suggest last week that the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a Maga supporter — an insensitive and inaccurate remark, but hardly a cancellation offence. ABC pulled his show, nonetheless, shortly after Nexstar, a big owner of US local TV stations, said it would stop screening it. Nexstar plans a $6.2bn merger with rival Tegna that needs the go-ahead from Brendan Carr, the pro-Trump chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr had earlier told a podcast that TV companies must “take action” over Kimmel’s “sickest conduct possible”. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he warned, hinting at fines or licence revocations for companies that failed to act.
基梅尔上周似乎暗示，涉嫌杀害保守派活动人士查理•柯克(Charlie Kirk)的嫌疑人是一名“Maga”支持者——这一说法既不敏感也不准确，但远称不上该被“封杀”。然而，在美国地方电视台大亨Nexstar表示将停止播出该节目后不久，ABC就下架了他的节目。Nexstar计划与竞争对手Tegna达成一笔62亿美元的并购案，该交易需要亲特朗普的美国联邦通信委员会(Federal Communications Commission, FCC)主席布伦丹•卡尔(Brendan Carr)放行。卡尔早些时候在一档播客中表示，电视公司必须“对基梅尔的极端行为采取行动”。他警告称：“我们可以选择简单的方式，也可以选择困难的方式。”暗示对不作为的公司可能罚款或吊销牌照。
Shortly after CBS cancelled Colbert’s show in July, meanwhile — blaming high costs — the FCC approved its parent Paramount Global’s $8bn takeover by Skydance. Colbert had earlier mocked Paramount’s $16mn settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump.
与此同时，CBS在7月取消了科尔伯特的节目，理由是成本过高。不久后，美国联邦通信委员会批准了其母公司派拉蒙环球(Paramount Global)被Skydance以80亿美元收购的交易。科尔伯特此前曾拿派拉蒙支付的1600万美元特朗普诽谤案和解金开玩笑。
Colbert’s quip highlighted how the president is using lawfare against critical media. Disney’s ABC last year paid $15mn to settle a Trump lawsuit, seen by many experts as frivolous, over a presenter’s inaccurate statement. The president has since sued the Wall Street Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch for $10bn over its reporting of a letter allegedly sent by Trump to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which the president denies writing. And Trump has sued the New York Times for $15bn for alleged defamation, though a US district judge has for now dismissed the suit as overlong and lacking a “plain statement of the claim”.
科尔伯特的调侃突显了总统正借用法律战打压批评媒体。迪士尼旗下的ABC去年支付了1500万美元，解决了一起特朗普提起的诉讼——许多专家认为这场官司毫无根据，只是因为主持人发表了不准确的言论。此后，特朗普又起诉《华尔街日报》及其所有者鲁珀特•默多克(Rupert Murdoch)，要求100亿美元赔偿，理由是该报报道了一封据称由特朗普写给已故性犯罪者杰弗里•爱泼斯坦(Jeffrey Epstein)的信，特朗普否认写过。特朗普还以诽谤为由起诉《纽约时报》，索赔150亿美元，但一名美国地方法官已裁定暂时驳回，理由是诉状过长，缺乏“明确的诉求陈述”。
There are worrying signs, too, of government attempts to influence a key social media player. The deal being finalised by the Trump administration to steer TikTok’s US operations into the hands of American buyers was intended to address national security threats posed by Chinese ownership. But a White House official said Oracle, which will have oversight of the US version, “will operate in partnership with the US government to ensure safety”, including “retraining” the algorithm that curates content for users. Any deal should leave the app entirely in private business hands, with independent regulation.
还有一些令人担忧的迹象显示，政府试图影响一家关键的社交媒体平台。特朗普政府正在敲定一项协议，将TikTok美国业务交由美国买家掌控，表面上是为了解决中国所有权带来的国家安全威胁。但一名白宫官员表示，甲骨文(Oracle)将负责监管TikTok美国版，并会“与美国政府合作以确保安全”，包括“重新训练”决定用户内容推荐的算法。任何协议都应保证该应用完全掌握在私人公司手中，并接受独立监管。
Many US institutions have proved less robust than hoped in the face of Trump’s onslaught on democratic norms. But the backlash over the Kimmel decision — from Hollywood bigwigs including Disney’s own talent, entertainment unions, viewers cancelling subscriptions, and even some prominent Republicans — suggests a sizeable chunk of the non-Maga population are prepared to dig in if the president’s circle goes too far. The return of the late-night comic, though, is just one battle in what is set to be a long struggle to defend America’s cherished tradition of free speech.
面对特朗普对民主规范的猛烈冲击，许多美国机构的韧性都比人们预想的要弱。但对基梅尔事件的反弹——包括迪士尼自家艺人在内的好莱坞大腕、娱乐工会、取消订阅的观众，甚至部分知名共和党人——表明相当一部分非“Maga”公众已经准备好在总统阵营走得太远时坚守阵地。这位深夜喜剧演员的回归，只是这场捍卫美国珍视的言论自由传统的长期斗争中的一场小胜仗。