Iraq is shaping up to be the crucial election issue, so when Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi came to Washington last week to thank America for liberating Iraq, the hardened liberal press corps reacted predictably. Their message to America: don't let Bush's puppet perk you up. Gratitude? We don't want America to hear too much of that. Liberation? The very idea that this quagmire reflects a "liberation" sounds like a sick joke. There is no light at the end of this tunnel, the media declareth. Spiro Agnew's old tag "nattering nabobs of negativism" defines this press corps with pinpoint precision... continue reading
CBS has been suffering from an East Coast meltdown based upon an incredibly sleazy forgery scandal, and just as it attempted to jump-start the damage control machine with an independent outside investigation, the other shoe dropped on the West Coast. Janet Jackson's Super Bowl bare-breast scandal returned to the headlines when the Federal Communications Commission announced an unprecedented $550,000 fine for indecency. Twenty Viacom-owned CBS affiliates were each assessed the maximum $27,500 fine. At first glance, the FCC's unanimous decision, endorsed by both Democrats and Republicans, looks tough. This fine for broadcast television content is just as much a network... continue reading
The jig is up. The game is over. CBS tried to energize the country into voting against President Bush by highlighting forged documents it said would prove Bush's failure to serve honorably in the Texas Air National Guard. The smoking gun went up in smoke. Once caught, CBS and Dan Rather could have responded with a simple apology. Instead, they went ballistic - and now must pay the price for their defiance. For more than a week, Dan Rather responded like a cornered politician, blaming a vast right-wing conspiracy of "partisan political activists" for unfairly trying to change the subject... continue reading
Most parents naturally squirm at the TV concept of an "adult cartoon." That goes double for shows with simplistic animation or cute cuddly animal characters, which are low-hanging fruit for the littlest children to pick. The first show of this kind was "South Park," which looks like a kindergarten art project but sounds like a bad day at a juvenile delinquency center. Now NBC has unveiled "Father of the Pride," which looks like "Shrek" but sounds as sad and horny as last year's failed Whoopi Goldberg sitcom. The concept behind the show - a cartoon about the lions in Siegfried... continue reading
CBS News and anchorman Dan Rather have entered the journalistic equivalent of one of Dante's circles of Hell, forced to live forever with a scandal they created. With their Texas Air National Guard forgeries, they now live in a neighborhood of national media embarrassments. Faked Food Lion resumes. Staged GM pickup truck explosions. Janet Cooke's profile of Jimmy the eight-year-old coke addict. Jayson Blair's phony travelogues from "West Virginia." Watergate was a scandal Mr. Rather thoroughly enjoyed, since he built his career on ripping into Richard Nixon. Now Rather is Nixon, a bitter, vengeful man who allowed his friends to... continue reading
One thing you won't find on your TV is a commercial for cigarettes, and it's one of the few "broadcasting" issues on which the federal government and Hollywood have common ground. While smoking remains legal for adults, it's off limits to children and cigarette advertising would decidedly entice youngsters to dabble in that vice. It's a simple, cause-and-effect argument. In that vein, it should not be surprising that Rebecca Collins and a team of researchers at the RAND Corporation have discovered a similar pattern for prime-time television's nearly omnipresent patter about sex, sex, sex. It's only natural that children might... continue reading
It was a sign of the venom that was set to drip from the fangs of the liberal media in New York during the Republican convention last week. On the eve of the GOP gathering, Tom Brokaw ended his special Sunday night anchoring duties with a little commentary charging that the Republicans' decision to feature "middle of the road" speakers, in contrast to the party's "hard right" positions, was "the political equivalent of a popular con game in this tough town, three-card monte." But the real convention "con game" was the media's attempt to present themselves as "moderate" analysts when... continue reading
The "wardrobe malfunction" that launched a national outpouring of rage against televised soft-porn slime continues to reap great benefits for the forces of reason, reticence, and decency on television. Look no further than the relatively staid presentations this year at Fox's Teen Choice Awards and MTV's Video Music Awards. Fox selected as its Teen Choice hosts the sleazy "Simple Life" pair of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Their most memorable awards-show performance had come in December of 2002 at the Billboard Music Awards. Paris stated it was great to be there, to which Nicole responded, "yeah, instead of standing in... continue reading
The official boosters of New York City couldn't be happier that the Republican Party brought their show to the city that never sleeps. It's too bad we can't say the same for the New York Times, which greeted the convention with about as much as enthusiasm as a first-grader greets the measles. Anyone turning on the TV for news two weeks ago was greeted with the blockbuster news that the New York Times had uncovered devastating links between the Bush campaign and the avowedly independent Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But if you read the article, you had to laugh... continue reading
Hollywood may dazzle the world with its cinematic special effects, but New York thinks it is the nation's real capital of culture. It has the art galleries, the opera, the jazz clubs, the great publishing houses, and most of all, the theater. New York is trying to offer this cosmopolitan cornucopia to the arriving delegates of (as well as the ragtag armies of professional protesters to) the Republican National Convention. But some productions aren't exactly on the Grand Old Party wavelength. The producer of an off-Broadway musical called "Naked Boys Singing" is accusing the Republican National Committee of "censoring" the... continue reading