Jimmy Kimmel Live! fined $395,000 over presidential alert skit

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Jimmy Kimmel Live! fined $395,000 over presidential alert skit

15 August 2019

ABC talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been fined $395,000 (£326,000) for mimicking a presidential alert on the programme, a US regulator announced.

The show replicated the emergency alert tone three times during a sketch mocking the warning system.

On the same day the programme aired, 3 October last year, the alert was officially tested nationwide.

As part of the trial, more than 200 million US mobile phones received a test "Presidential Alert" notification.

The alert system, which is designed to warn of major threats such as missile attacks, natural disasters and acts of terrorism, is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49365767


A test "Presidential alert" was sent to Americans on 3 October, 2018 (Getty Images)

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Free speech going down the tubes

[Eugene]

2. As late as the 1960's, radio and TV shows could not say "S.O.S." on the air.

Concern about "alert fatigue" is the official FCC story.

[PandoraAwakened]

4. Possibly same reason it's not used for white terrorist mass shootings?

Just wondering, since it's supposed to be used for terrorist attacks, right?

We'd be getting a heavy dose of that alert fatigue, wouldn't we?

[steventh]

5. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded auditorium.

The same principle applies to issuing an emergency alert over public airways. I don't see this as a First Amendment freedom of speech issue. There are reasonable restraints on speech, and I believe this is properly one of them.