Imagine the pain - the embarrassment, really. ABC News was blindsided by a scoop within its own network. The Disney bosses were quietly negotiating with talk-show star David Letterman, who'd obviously pre-empt "Nightline" if the deal was made. Even worse for the news division, one exec declared their late-night news show now lacked "relevancy." Predictably, TV news stars took exception, starting with "Nightline" host Ted Koppel, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that "Regular and thoughtful analysis of national and foreign policy is more essential than ever. It is at best, inappropriate, and at worst malicious to... continue reading
The dictionary defines diplomacy as "the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations." But for too many State Department regulars, diplomacy is synonymous with being diplomatic, defined as "employing tact and conciliation in times of stress." Even in the face of tyranny and violence and terrorism, the suggestion that some regimes don't deserve to survive is too tactless to contemplate. By themselves these bureaucrats are a nuisance. But when teamed with a like-minded press they become a formidable voice. That's why White House speechwriters had to fight furiously for Ronald Reagan's demand to Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this... continue reading
Actor, director, entrepreneur, and liberal activist Robert Redford has weighed in on the horrific events of last September 11. The good news is that his remarks clearly weren't as aggressively obnoxious as those of, say, Bill Maher, Susan Sontag, Aaron Sorkin, or Michael Moore. On the other hand, it's proof positive that the mushy-headed maybe-we-brought-it-on-ourselves crowd is alive and well with their heads clearly set ... in the clouds. Redford didn't choose the "Tonight Show," or GQ, or even the New York Times for his discourse. Oddly enough, he penned his message in his Sundance company's spring catalog, meaning it... continue reading
One of our society's sorriest trends of recent years is the tendency to take a violent crime and shift the blame from the guilty criminal to some nonviolent segment of society. We saw this most prominently with the blaming of religious-right newspaper ads for the beating death of gay student Matthew Shepard. We saw it when the NAACP blamed George W. Bush for giving James Byrd's relatives a never-ending replay of his racially motivated highway-dragging death by failing to sign a liberal "hate crimes" bill. Now we have a new example. It's a beaut. A letter writer to the Poynter... continue reading
The House took a vote on campaign "reform." The media won. After the victory, Bryant Gumbel smiled at House sponsor Marty Meehan and observed, "In a strange way do you have Enron to thank for not only guaranteeing you no presidential veto, but also nulling Republican opposition?" Don't thank Enron, Marty. Thank the "news" media, which used the Enron scandal to lobby shamelessly for campaign reform legislation even though there's not a lick of evidence of any wrongdoing as a result of Enron's political giving. On this issue, more than perhaps any other, the media have demonstrated a slant that's... continue reading
On the day before President Bush gave his State of the Union Address, newspapers reported that Global Crossing, a pioneering firm who tried to lay Internet cables under the seas, was filing for bankruptcy. Despite its short and wildly ambitious four-year history, it qualified as the fourth largest bankruptcy in American history, larger than the coinciding collapse of retail giant K-Mart. What? You didn't know this? After several weeks of intense media interest in the sleazy demise of Enron, one might suspect that a bankruptcy this large would attract similar media attention. Global Crossing was also inflating its value with... continue reading
Asked what is typical basic-cable television programming, the average person will tell you it's old movies, or reruns, or documentaries, or news. Less recognized is that, having reached parity with broadcast television, cable is now boasting its own slate of original prime-time entertainment shows - comedy, drama, and reality. And it's far raunchier than the rot one finds on the broadcast networks. Much is being said about the almost-anything-goes programs such as HBO's "Sex and the City" and Showtime's "Queer as Folk," but those are on the "premium" pay channels. What we're talking about here is on basic cable TV,... continue reading
This Enron guilt-by-association media jihad needs to stop. Suddenly it seems that everyone who took money or spoke with someone at Enron should just line up at the federal penitentiary. To the media's collective delight, the General Accounting Office plans to sue Vice President Dick Cheney for refusing to release a complete list of everyone his energy task force met with, and everything that they said. Cheney has boldly resisted, insisting that the GAO does not have the right to put every White House meeting into the fish bowl for Democrats and the media to plan their fish fry. CBS... continue reading
If over-the-air television is broadcasting, cable television increasingly is narrowcasting. Entire cable channels are devoted to news, or to weather, or to sports - even, in the case of the Golf Channel, just one sport. There are channels for old movies, for cartoons, for science fiction. In short, in the world of niche marketing, "specialty" cable networks are the rage. How many viewers does it take to create a "market" demand for specialized programming? Apparently it's not just numbers that count. Political clout also matters to Hollywood. Three weeks ago, TV Guide's J. Max Robins quoted an "insider" at the... continue reading
There is one talent the liberal believes he possesses that the conservative lacks. It is an appreciation of "the other," an understanding of and appreciation for society's outcasts. Yet when it comes to addressing the beliefs of conservatives, particularly the Christian ones, it's an altogether different story. For so many liberals, Christian conservatives are there only to be caricatured as dangerous, superstitious tyrants. Reporters are especially burdened with the conceit of superiority. After all, they've seen all the hard-knock lives and plumbed the depths of the human condition. But give them the challenge of getting to understand Christian conservatives and... continue reading