Hearts & Minds: Satire with a safety net: why Kimmel’s peers are pulling their punches

Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension has lit a fire under America’s late-night comics. They have come out swinging. Sort of. Their monologues rail against censorship, mock ‘government-approved’ comedy and deride corporate cowardice. But they are not as hard-hitting as they could be. They’re not echoing what Kimmel said, they’re not saying anything that could justify their own dropping. The nightly hosts are standing in solidarity with Kimmel alright. They’re playing a careful game, though: sticking to slamming censorship itself, without giving the censors fresh ammunition.

The best satire has always been about pushing the boundaries. The risk as it’s presented today is that crossing it doesn’t just bring boos from the audience, but a more serious response. Where politicians are concerned, there has always been a degree of anything goes. Even so, sometimes, it’s proved too much. Most recently, Roseanne Barr was fired from ‘Roseanne’ for making racist remarks on Twitter about Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to Barrack Obama; Gina Camaro, was axed from ‘The Mandalorian’ after suggesting that to be a Republican in 2021 was like being Jewish during the Holocaust.

For anyone who has worked in news organisations, self-restraint, self-preservation, is part of the job. Reporters, news executives, editors - they exercise it on a regular basis.

Of course there is a regulator hovering, but only a small number of cases ever get that far. They know where the lines are and that to break them may result in a reprimand or worse. The limits concern bad taste and causing offence - not only to a political or social grouping but also to the proprietor and their own particular views and interests. These things are learned on the hoof, and quickly. They are part-instructed, part-instinctive. Applying them becomes second nature.

There is another, which is remaining on the right side of advertisers. Sometimes, it has to be pointed out by the commercial department that a planned item is causing upset and may result in the cancelling of ads and loss of income. Mostly, journalists do not require telling; they know who pays their wages.

It is the same outside the media. In any organisation, staff manage their behaviour, curb excess, don’t break ranks, risk damaging the brand. No group is more exposed than those in comms. They must monitor the frontline, guard reputation and still deliver the message.

Self-censorship is presented as new. It’s not. Most people practise it every day.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.