The Baltimore Sun is majority-owned and controlled by David Smith. Smith is executive chairman of Sinclair Inc., and although that entity is publicly traded on NASDAQ, he controls major decisions despite not owning a majority of total equity in the company.

Sinclair has decided to thwart our freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. How can an owner of a newspaper in a major U.S. city justify indefinitely suspending the Jimmy Kimmel late-night show because he disagreed with the speech of Kimmel? (ABC reinstates Jimmy Kimmel after suspension over Kirk remarks, Sept. 22, 2025).

This was an outrageous trampling of the First Amendment, ironically implemented by the owner of a major news source.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman recently commented on Substack that business leaders are giving in to Trump’s demands because they “expect him to consolidate autocratic power.” As Krugman suggests, this is the wrong path and will not be rewarded in the end. It will only contribute to the destruction of our economy while consolidating power in the executive branch with the assistance of a compliant U.S. Supreme Court that ignores precedent and now provides no backstop for this un-American and unconstitutional behavior.

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Sinclair backtracked after a few days and began airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” again after outcries from the left, center and right protested a clear violation of the First Amendment.

Smith’s initial instinct was to bend the knee to the autocrat in the White House. I urge all Sun subscribers to cancel their subscriptions — as I did, after being a subscriber for 42 years. Let’s teach Smith a lesson about the U.S. Constitution and how to stand up to a bully and save our country. If we don’t, the FCC will continue to pressure those under its control to behave as the White House wishes.

Todd Kazlow is an attorney based in Baltimore.

The Baltimore Banner publishes letters to the editor, exclusive to our publication, of no more than 350 words. Letters can be submitted for consideration to letters@thebaltimorebanner.com.