This article originally appeared on The Conversation . Its authors are:

Pawel Popiel , Washington State University ; Dwayne Winseck , Carleton University ; Hendrik Theine , Johannes Kepler University Linz , University of Pennsylvania , and Sydney Forde , University of Pennsylvania

Following unprecedented threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, major affiliate station owners Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting pressured Disney’s ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air over his comments related to Charlie Kirk’s killing .

The suspension is a harbinger of what could happen under a fundamental restructuring of U.S. media that will take place if the proposed Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger is

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