Whatever happened to the notion of washing a child's mouth out with soap, or if in the case of an adult, just smacking him in the chops if he insults someone with obscene or racist language? All that's out the window in Hollywood, where there's an entire regimented 12-stop process of rehabilitation and "healing." Last October, gossips chattered about a scrap between two male stars on the set of the hip ABC medical show "Grey's Anatomy." Actor Isaiah Washington reportedly called a fellow cast member a "faggot." The rumors spurred cast member T. R. Knight to openly declare he was... continue reading
Hillary has to be nervous. At this juncture in the campaign, she's being edged out in the Goo Primary. Her natural allies in the media suddenly are more adulatory toward Barack Obama - and more defensive of anyone who would dare question his exotic biography. Insight magazine, a long-standing publication of The Washington Times Company, published a gossipy item with anonymous "Democratic Party" sources (they claimed some of them came from Hillary's camp) that Obama had attended a madrassa, a radical Islamic school, in Indonesia as a child. The story was unproven, and should not have been published in its... continue reading
Hollywood types speak gauzily of their "art," even if nothing seems to fit the definition of some of this "art" better than "films almost no one wants to watch." Robert Redford became a hero of the "art" film world by founding the Sundance Institute in 1981, based on the call for "creative risk-taking" and "nurturing the diversity of artistic expression." But the search for risk-taking-cum-creative diversity is a hopeless free-fall into the abyss, and all too often, and too predictably, results in creative perversity. What Mapplethorpe brought to the photograph, Redford's festival is now bringing to the silver screen. The... continue reading
The "historic" Democratic presidential primaries of 2008 are kicking in already, and the online announcements of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have spun the media into a frothy sweet Frappucino of giddiness. Take ABC, whose Claire Shipman described the emerging Democratic race this way: "Call it Obama wave collides with Clinton juggernaut," a contest between Obama's "fluid poetry" and Hillary's "hot factor" from her "ever-popular" husband. If this piece was in print instead of on television, it would have fallen off the page with all the exclamation points. High-school dance squads have less enthusiasm; high school term papers have... continue reading
The NFL's pro football playoffs are a ratings bonanza, attracting millions upon millions of viewers, including millions of little boys who love the game, one of whom is my ten-year-old son Reid. The most intriguing story line of these playoffs is the dramatic turn-around of the New Orleans Saints, not only their wins on the field, but their dramatic recovery from hurricane Katrina. The Superdome has been transformed from a site of post-flooding nightmares to a gleaming and triumphant setting for victory. So it was sad, but not unexpected, that the at least one New Orleans fan would interrupt the... continue reading
For three years, President Bush has been portrayed as stubborn on Iraq, so defiant that it's disturbing, perhaps even a sign of delusional certitude. There's a mirror image at play: those doing the portraying, i.e., the media have been every bit as stubborn when it comes to their defiant insistence that everything that happens in Iraq, no matter how positive, is another peg for bad news coverage. We acknowledge that the daily drumbeat of death pounded by the media is based on facts. That does not mean that all death is bad. In war, it is a tragedy to learn... continue reading
How ancient is the concern over violence on television and its effects on society? Crack open a cobwebbed copy of Lyndon Johnson's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence from 1969, where it reads, "Public concern for violence in entertainment television programming has been with us since at least 1954." In other words, go back to the days when people were still using their first TV sets. You'd also discover reading this report that even back then, the TV industry was trying to duck and weave out of any public concerns. They claimed there was no research into... continue reading
Anyone remembering the ascent of Newt Gingrich to House Speaker in 1995 surely noticed a difference between media coverage of that historic event and Nancy Pelosi taking the gavel back for the Democrats in 2007. One had all the joy of a child's funeral. The other was New Year's Rockin' Eve. CNN even had a countdown clock to the Democrats regaining the majority. All that was missing was a lighted crystal donkey that would descend down a pole on the top of the Capitol dome. CNN's Dana Bash called Pelosi's gavel grab a "moment to savor," surely true for her... continue reading
Back in the 1970s, in the Dean Martin Roast era on TV, comedian Don Rickles could get away with saying most anything about anyone. Nothing was safe from his jokes - be it race, gender, religion, professions, personal behavior - nothing. He was billed as a "putdown artist." He could make jokes about blacks, and Muhammad Ali would be the first to laugh. He could crack wise about alcoholics, and Dean Martin would erupt. He could ridicule those wearing toupees, and Frank Sinatra would dissolve into fits. Rickles, along with all of his guests, knew what it was to rib... continue reading
The passing of President Gerald Ford drew a dignified, even warm farewell from the national press. There was near-consensus that he would be remembered for his decency and the risk he took, pardoning Richard Nixon from Watergate prosecutions in an effort to heal the nation. It is proper that the press is kind today. It ought to be remembered, however, that the press was not of this opinion when Ford took office. For example, Time magazine's cover story on the pardon in September 1974 declared that "Ford's first major decision raised disturbing questions about his judgment and his leadership capabilities,... continue reading