The news media insist that what conservatives don't like about their reporting is the unpleasant truths they uncover. If that's true, how do they explain their fixation on the reporting of unpleasantries which have yet to occur? Monday morning, October 24, began with great conjuring of clouds and thunder claps about all the bad news about to land on President Bush. The gloom over the breakfast table was impenetrable, perhaps because the soothsayers all had partisan backgroun ds. NBC brought on Tim Russert, former Democratic aide (Cuomo and Moynihan). ABC invited George Stephanopoulos, former Democratic aide (the Clintons). CBS offered... continue reading
There's one extra reason to be excited about watching the World Series between teams that have never or rarely made it to the top. It means that Fox's prime-time lineup will go on hiatus for four to seven nights, which is one quick and easy temporary way to clean up network television. Fox TV is radioactive, and every parent should be reluctant to point their remote control toward their local Fox station with children in the room. When the Parents Television Council compiled its list of the Top Ten Worst Shows in prime-time, Fox "distinguished" itself by filling six of... continue reading
On Saturday, millions of Iraqis walked with determination to the polls to vote for a new constitution. The turnout was high. The violence was down dramatically from the triumphant elections of January. But the network found all this boring. On the night before the historic vote, ABC led with bird-flu panic. CBS imagined Karl Rove in a prison jumpsuit. NBC hyped inflation. They say that news is a man-bites-dog story. In the Middle East, how common is a constitutional referendum? Have they had one in Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Syria? Jordan? Until the last few years, the phrase "Arab constitutional democracy"... continue reading
The cause of decency - specifically, finding limits to what the entertainment world will do for the sake of ratings - needs an advocate wherever it can be found. But it is a bit strange to see it coming from inside CBS, from "60 Minutes." The other day reporter Lesley Stahl was profiling the France family that operates the massive sports business of NASCAR racing, and she was outraged. Her primary moral objection was any lack of limits to who sponsors the cars. "A NASCAR race is a con stant blur of corporate logos, hawking everything from beer to booze,... continue reading
One year after the credibility of CBS News collapsed over their use of fake memos against George W. Bush, lame attempts to rehabilitate CBS seem to be everywhere. Dan Rather is now telling anyone who will listen that after defending the report, then apologizing for it, he now thinks it's true again. Al Gore is suggesting Rather was demoted because the all-powerful White House was angry. At a ceremony for the news and documentary Emmy awards, ABC's Ted Koppel and MSNBC boss Rick Kaplan scrambled like the King's men reassembling Humpty Dumpty. But the eggy mess remains. In his tribute... continue reading
When you think about the most successful movies of all time, do you ever think: those might have been even better with a demonstration of "safe sex" practices? Not likely. But the safe-sex lobbyists worry that moviegoers aren't getting enough medical (if not moral) messages at the movie theater. Moralists about entertainment come in many categories. Today, it's more common for people in Hollywood to fuss that too many characters smoke in films. Or that characters shouldn't wear fur coats. Or that too many anorexic actresses are ruining young girls' feelings about their body image. One of the most common,... continue reading
The morning after the story broke, a friend asked if Bill Bennett's radio comments would trigger a major outburst. No, I assured him, it was a one-day, much-about-nothing-to-do, left-wing-trouble-making story that would be exposed for what it was. Just look at what Bennett said. Asked on his radio program if, without the massive toll of legalized abortions over the last three decades, we'd have more taxpayers to support Social Security payments, Bennett expressed distaste for those kind of extrapolations, like a current theory in the book "Freakonomics" that the abortion rate in recent decades has led to a lower crime... continue reading
After the Columbine High School massacre a few years back there was a spirited debate about the role the entertainment media had played in encouraging the two monsters savagely to murder their classmates. The head of the WB network pulled the final episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" because he now deemed it too violent. CBS entertainment chief Les Moonves likewise yanked a planned Mafia mob war series from his schedule and went a step further in a statement about the cause-and-effect of violent programming. "Anyone who thinks the media has nothing to do with it," he said, "is an... continue reading
When cataclysmic events like Hurricane Rita capture the nation's attention, other significant news stories are pushed down, or off, the news agenda, particularly on television. One potentially big story was the most recent left-wing march on Washington to protest the Iraq war, which was reduced to snippets on some network shows. But the nation's biggest newspapers, with ample space to fill, were there. And based on their stories, it was hard to tell whether they were covering it - or sponsoring it. The Washington Post won for the best biggest puff piece, a front-page story hyping how "Antiwar Fervor Fills... continue reading
The Washington Post recently reported, and then mocked, plans at the FBI to put a few field agents on pornography prosecutions. One unnamed FBI agent who, according to the Post was awarded anonymity since "poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing," derided the idea, saying, "I guess this means we've won the war on terror." The Post reporter also recycled jokes made at FBI headquarters, such as "Things I Don't Want On My Résumé, Volume Four," and "I already gave at home." It was a cheap and easy dig. No one puts pornographers in a league with Osama... continue reading