America loves democracy, where the mandates of government are determined by the consent of the governed. The public's temperature is gauged regularly - even daily - by a media obsessed with polling data on absolutely everything. But are these media surveys intended to document public opinion - or affect it? Take the war. At the outset of verbal hostilities, the media's pollsters asked the generic question: Do you favor war in Iraq? Maybe they felt the question too broad, or the number in agreement too high. Whatever the reason, the pollsters felt the need to get more specific. Do you... continue reading
President Bush consented to another oral exam with his March 6 prime-time press conference in the East Room. He passed, and the press failed. More importantly, however, was how they failed. This time, they flunked themselves. The press, you see, is being too easy on President Bush. Some really do believe that. Remember how we spent most of the 2000 campaign with liberal reporters and pundits relishing the idea of George W. Bush trying to handle a White House news conference? He couldn't put two sentences together, the frat-boy, not-ready-for-prime-time lightweight. Now he goes long and deep into the White... continue reading
As war against Saddam creeps ever closer, anti-war partisans are feeling powerless and underappreciated. To them, the media seem dominated by a White House war machine that is intimidating sheepish reporters. Helen Thomas, who doesn't ask questions so much as accuse the administration of heinous motives and declare that President Bush is the worst leader in our history, is their kind of "reporter." Some in the press are hearing these left-wing complaints and rushing to counter-program against the apparently oppressive grip of Bush media dominance. Last week, the anti-war media forum of choice was ABC's "Nightline," including a 90-minute "town... continue reading
When you try to imagine the happening international destination for the next wave of pop music, the odds are strong you won't be thinking of...Russia. For decades, teenagers the world over have taken their fashion and musical cues from mop-topped Brits or satiny Swedes, but in the dour, lifeless world of the Soviet Union, rebellious youths were probably defined as those destined for the concentration camps. But that is changing with the growing pop-music phenomenon known as "Tatu" - an acronym in Russian for "This girl loves that girl." A pair of Russian girls who like to kiss everywhere they... continue reading
Our world is full of danger. Think about it: virtually everyone on Earth is threatened by evil people. Centuries ago, Edmund Burke handed reluctant warriors against evil in our time the billboard message to answer today's "peace" rallies: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Only in America (surprise) is the public heeding Burke's warning. The latest CBS News poll found that when asked, straight up, if they approved or disapproved of "the United States taking military action against Iraq to try to remove Saddam Hussein from power," 66 percent are... continue reading
The United States is on the brink of war with Iraq. As Saddam Hussein begins to brace for the whirlwind, he's got few weapons left. One of them is very predictable: Hollywood. A group called "Artists United to Win Without War" planned a "virtual march" on Washington for February 26, an electric blitz of phone calls, faxes, and e-mails calling for delay, delay, delay - the complete set of Tariq Aziz talking points. But wait a minute. Just how can one take these "artists" seriously when they give themselves a name like that? Just how does one "win without war"?... continue reading
We know that liberals believe that in the grand march toward human perfection, we should be able to clone our way out of many medical ailments. But their faith in human potential is reaching laughable levels of utopianism if they think they can somehow clone the success of Rush Limbaugh. In merely the latest in a series of front-page non-scoops touting a left-wing agenda, the New York Times reported that a group of super-rich liberal Clinton-Gore donors will be wasting their spare change on a new venture to create a liberal talk-radio network. It's got to be one of the... continue reading
The power of romance never dies, especially in Hollywood. Romance movies being almost as popular as romance novels, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would discover the endless possibilities in romance "reality" TV. And therein lies the irony. The romance one sees on "reality" television is just about as realistic as that Clinton slow dance on the beach. Fox earned its highest ratings ever outside of major sporting events with the finale of "Joe Millionaire," which added a 21st century twist to the traditional dating-game female demographic by promising that the man in question would be lying... continue reading
ABC hosted a fascinating "Nightline" a few weeks ago on the subject of patriotism and the press in times of war. They should have called it "A Night on the Defensive." Near the end, the panel discussion turned to Fox's Tony Snow, who mischievously wore a flag pin on his lapel. That decision saddened Ted Koppel, who said it leaves people with the unfortunate impression that those who refuse to wear the pin are somehow less patriotic. His boss, ABC News President David Westin went much further than that. He banned flag pins on ABC reporters. Why? Because "I think... continue reading
In 2000, many media critics had a fit when they learned that TV entertainment executives had negotiated with the federal government to place anti-drug messages directly into their programs to avoid having to air free public-service announcements that would cut into their profits. Now Viacom, the parent company of CBS, UPN, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1, and Showtime, is at it again. This time, however, it's for a noble cause, the "public interest," not ad savings. Viacom has joined with the liberal Kaiser Family Foundation for a "public education initiative." Viacom is touting that its programs on various networks would "incorporate HIV/AIDS... continue reading