In an open letter, more than 2,300 members of the authors Guild of America blown up so -called “escalating attacks on independent media” on Tuesday, whose signatories include Tony Gilroy, Spike Lee, David Simon, Adam McKay and more.
The consortium contains “screenwriters, television authors and journalists” who say that after Donald Trumps they complain against the CBS mother company Paramount, the threats for the licenses of radio operators and personal calls, news and TV shows that criticize him with an “unexploited, authoritarian attack”.
The guild website as requesting the members Sign the letterwhich already contains the names of some of the most famous creators of Hollywood, including the above plus Lilly Wachowski, Ilana Glazer, Kenneth Lonergan, John Waters, Gillian Flynn and hundreds.
The open letter is:
We are members of the Writers Guild of America who speak in one voice to decrypt the dangerous and escalating attacks on the first change, the independent media and the free press.
We are an association of screenwriters, television authors and journalists who were built and maintained on the basis of the foundation of the conviction that courageous storytelling, fearless comedies and unshakable reporting for free and democratic society are indispensable. We have always understood that loyalty to these beliefs could lead to attacks by our bosses, company interests or even politicians. Nevertheless, we always understood our role in a healthy democracy.
Now we stand by an unprecedented, authoritarian attack. In the past few months alone, President Trump has submitted unfounded complaints against news organizations that have published stories that he does not like and used them in payments, especially with Paramount, which colonized a merit -free lawsuit for $ 16 million. He has rewarded himself against publications that reported the White House factually and threatened the licenses of channels. He regularly calls for the cancellation of news and entertainment television shows, which criticize him in late night and finally the view.
Alarmingly, the majority of the federal government have now joined these attacks. The Republicans of the Congress have worked together to remove the public broadcasting company in order to silence PBS and NPR. The FCC openly conditioned its approval of the barrel-stimulus paramount fusion in relation to the assurances that CBS would make “significant changes” for the alleged ideological point of view of its journalism and his entertainment programming. The chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, has repeated Trump's threats.
And yet Paramount still asks us to believe that the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was not about politics or a merger permit.
These are un -American attempts to limit the types of stories and jokes that can be told in order to silence criticism and contradiction.
We have no king, we have a president. And the president cannot choose what is on television, in film cinemas, on stage, on our bookshelves or the news.
We ask our elected representatives and industry leaders to oppose this presentation. We ask our audience, every single person who is willing to fight for a free and democratic future to raise their voice.
This is certainly not the first time that freedom of speech in this country is being attacked, but freedom of speech remains our right because the generation has devoted itself to protection according to the generation of Americans. Now and always when writers are attacked, our collective power as a union enables us to defend themselves. This time in American life will not take forever, and when it comes to the world, you will remember who had the courage to comment.
Take a look at the letter with the full list of signatories. Here.
