Promoting President Clinton's speech at the November 8 Washington fundraiser for the gay Human Rights Campaign, HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch proclaimed that Clinton has "put gay issues on the radar screen of America." Without minimizing this administration's considerable efforts to further the militant homosexual political agenda, the important screen for the gay movement is television, and the face on that screen at the moment belongs to someone else. If in the past year or so you've heard and read far more about lesbians than you cared to, Ellen DeGeneres is a happy camper. Clinton's address was pedal-to-the-metal pro-gay (he... continue reading
Gilmore Beats Beyer - and Liberal Reporters by L. Brent Bozell III November 6, 1997 Virginia's political pundits ought to be sued for false advertising. After suggesting for months the statewide campaign was a dull affair without a clear message or a compelling candidate, a lightning bolt of public opinion struck on Election Day. Three new Republicans swept into office on a wave of opposition to the punitive personal-property tax on cars. If the groundswell against the oppressive tactics of the IRS didn't send a message, these results do: Tax relief wins elections. What's more interesting to close readers of... continue reading
If there ever was any doubt that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were guilty as charged, it vanished when the Venona decryptions were released. Likewise,only fools and revisionists now deny that Whittaker Chambers told the truth about Alger Hiss. Consequently, there's hope that one day the liberal establishment will at last concede that in post-World War II Hollywood, Communism was indeed a significant and malignant force. But judging from how the media handled the fiftieth anniversary of the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings into Communist penetration of the movie industry, this concession will have to wait until the next millennium... continue reading
China Prompts Tiresome Dances of Detente by L. Brent Bozell III October 30, 1997 News is not just a sterile formula of W's - who, what, where, when, why. Ask Hillary Clinton, who told her staff it must present reporters with a storyline with heroes and villains, action and conflict. During campaigns, it was the Republican Party agenda of cruelty and avarice versus the Man from Hope. For the health-care fight, it was greedy drug and insurance companies. This year, it was the evil tobacco industry and its nicotine manipulators. The administration knew it could count on the media to... continue reading
It's sometimes said that "the sexual revolution is over - and sex won." What began as a nihilistic anti-establishment experiment in sexual liberation has devolved into what surrounds us today, as barrier after barrier has come crashing down with the glorification of immediate physical satisfaction and the rejection of the natural order (and therefore, of love itself). The nihilists aren't done, though. Yet another wall has come down this month. "Boogie Nights," a film about the porno industry in the '70s and '80s, is out and playing at your favorite mall. Let me dispense with the plot, as quickly as... continue reading
Tom Brokaw's Strange Political Spectrum by L. Brent Bozell III October 23, 1997 The "Notable Quotables" newsletter (published by the Media Research Center, which I head) reprints statements made by the sages of journalism which demonstrate their proclivity to slant their news reports. In the mail the other day came a note from Tom Brokaw taking exception to NQ's citation of a recent "NBC Nightly News," specifically his report that "some women's groups feel that Promise Keepers, their warm and fuzzy ideology, is a mask for something more sinister." Brokaw protested. "The same broadcast also featured a Promise Keeper's wife,... continue reading
Ten Years of Nattering Nabobs by L. Brent Bozell III October 21, 1997 The Media Research Center is celebrating it's 10 th anniversary making life miserable for liberal reporters, and to mark the occasion has released it's "Best Notable Quotables : A Decade of Bias." To read some of these offerings is to believe that this organization really does invent the quotes it attributes to some of the best & brightest of the left-wing press. Believe it or not, they're all true. The Cold War is over, the Soviet Union has been consigned to the ash heap of history, but... continue reading
Has Washington "Seldom Been Screwier"? by L. Brent Bozell III October 16, 1997 Evidence of Clinton administration illegalities, unethical practices, dishonesty, and coverups is mounting at a furious pace, and sending some in the media into damage control overdrive. Wall Street Journal Washington Bureau Chief Alan Murray began a recent front-page piece by suggesting Washington has "seldom been screwier. Why should people care whether the president greets his guests in the Oval Office or the Map Room? Whether the vice president makes phone calls at the office or at home? Janet Reno may be mad, but the rest of the... continue reading
The fledgling UPN has a new president, Dean Valentine, and his mission is to save the network from collapse. Like the Warner Brothers network, UPN was launched in 1995, and both proposed to follow the successful plan of Fox back in the '80s by targeting a niche market, starting small, and adding one night of programming per year. But while WB saw the success of Nickelodeon and The Family Channel and went after family viewers, UPN signaled its desire to find an even more brain-dead audience than now watches television by offering sophomoric, just plain stupid programming filled with sexual... continue reading
The Blame-Reagan Shift: From the Media to the Historians by L. Brent Bozell III October 9, 1997 Throughout the 1980s and beyond, news media liberals blamed Ronald Reagan for everything from flammable children's pajamas to earthquakes. While the attacks never stop, they did abate in 1994, when Reagan's Alzheimer's disease became public. Now the battle over the Reagan legacy has entered a new and far more important dimension. The authors of "history" are hard at work, specifically encyclopedias and textbooks, distorting the Reagan record for generations to come. Try the Encyclopedia Britannica: "In 1981, Congress passed most of the President's... continue reading