Doing It the Hard Way
Cato Podcast
Cato Institute
4.6 • 949 Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
FCC chair Brendan Carr’s “easy way or hard way” threat to TV broadcasters lit a censorship firestorm this week. Our Cato panel digs into the government's jawboning, broadcast licensees' “junior-varsity” First Amendment rights, and whether it’s time to scrap the FCC altogether. Plus, the latest on AI regulation and the art of the TikTok deal.
Featuring Gene Healy, Ryan Bourne, Brent Skorup and Jennifer Huddleston
Brent Skorup, "Jimmy Kimmel, the FCC, and Why Broadcasters Still Have “Junior Varsity” First Amendment Rights," September 19, 2025.
Ilya Somin, "Abolish the FCC," September 18, 2025.
David Inserra and John Samples, "Kimmel Cancellation a Dangerous Sign for Free Speech," September 24, 202
Jennifer Huddelston, "Trump’s TikTok Reprieve Won’t Fix the Law’s Free Speech Problems," February 3, 2025.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I mean, to me, the best good news story is that we are now within 10 days of a new Taylor Swift album. |
| 0:05.9 | So that is certainly something that I think should be bringing all of America joy. |
| 0:13.6 | Welcome to the Cato podcast. I'm Ryan Bourne, Cato's R. Evan Shaft Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics. |
| 0:20.1 | Alongside me as ever is my co-hosts and |
| 0:21.9 | senior Cato VP for Policy, Gene Healy. Hey, Ryan. And today we're joined by two colleagues. |
| 0:27.9 | Brent Scorup is a legal fellow in Cato's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies. |
| 0:33.4 | The in-house mind I go to for wonky questions on the law surrounding economic regulation. |
| 0:38.7 | Thanks for having me. |
| 0:39.7 | And alongside him we have Jennifer Huddleston, our marathon-running Senior Fellow in Technology Policy, |
| 0:44.8 | a one-stop shop for big tech antitrust, content moderation and data privacy issues. |
| 0:49.9 | Thanks for having me. |
| 0:51.5 | TikTok, banned by Congress, then unbanned by the Trump administration, now may be sold to a hand-picked U.S. consortium, |
| 0:58.8 | depending on the approval of Beijing and with the U.S. taking a fee for brokering the deal. |
| 1:03.6 | Later in the show, we'll dig into the legalities and consequences of this latest bout of state capitalism from the Trump administration, |
| 1:10.2 | plus review where this |
| 1:11.5 | administration really stands on big tech and artificial intelligence. |
| 1:15.8 | But first, after his monologue chiding conservative for supposedly hitting new lows after |
| 1:22.9 | Charlie Kirk's assassination, ABC yanked comedian Jimmy Kimmel off the air. His suspension came just |
| 1:29.4 | hours after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, upset by Kimmel's comments, |
| 1:35.4 | issued a mafia-style ultimatum to Disney and its affiliates over reprimanding the comedian. |
| 1:41.0 | We can do this the easy way or the hard way, he said. Now Kimmel ultimately returned to his |
| 1:46.7 | show on Tuesday after public pressure and mass Disney Plus subscription cancellations. But with several |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Cato Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Cato Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.