Which side of the talk radio wars do you suppose our "mainstream" media outlets favor? If you have to ask, then just look at the news coverage of talk radio scandals. When Rush Limbaugh acknowledged an addiction to painkillers in 2003, the news media couldn't get enough of his misfortune. The Newsweek cover story by Evan Thomas called Rush "a childless, twice-divorced, thrice-married schlub whose idea of a good time is to lie on his couch and watch football endlessly." CNN anchorman Aaron Brown confessed that "the subject is Rush, made worse no doubt by the permanent smirk that seems... continue reading
Showtime, the pay-cable giant owned by Viacom, must be seeking a perfect schedule of "edgy" sleaze. They have shows for the gay men, and shows for the lesbians; they feature Penn and Teller's snarky show for the cocky atheists who want to use the F-word to describe Mother Teresa; and now they've added a new one, a "dramedy" series centered on a lovable suburban mom who's also a drug dealer. "Weeds" is the new show, starring Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban California homemaker who's shocked by the sudden death of her husband. To make ends meet, the sympathetic widow with... continue reading
One of the most profoundly annoying conceits of liberalism is the idea that dissent is the solitary province of the left, and when liberals do it, they should be glorified for doing it, no matter how outrageous the protest. President Bush is spending some vacation time in Crawford, so the media, predictably, are once again glorifying his left-wing protesters with lavish coverage of their antics, while dutifully refusing to identify them in any way as left-wing. Call it covering and covering up. Time and Newsweek both ran pictures of a tiny group holding MoveOn.org signs protesting the John Roberts nomination... continue reading
It's daytime in the summer, and what are your children watching? The odds are that it's MTV, cable's raunchiest magnet for the out-of-school crowd. Nielsen experts say MTV is watched by 73 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls aged 12 to 19, and if they've got it on during the day, the younger ones in the house are probably checking it out, too. TV Week reports that television viewership of broadcast and cable shows is up this summer, and some networks aggressively plan to catch (and then capture) viewers during the summer months. MTV Group executive Brian Graden... continue reading
My son's friend Todd Jones just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. At a celebratory gathering at his parents' home, we chatted a while and I asked him what he thought were the biggest problems facing the military. Without hesitating, he shot back: "The terrorists, and the media." In a rare moment of balance on CBS, Army Captain Christopher Vick echoed that sentiment: "I think it's hard for Americans to get up every day and turn on the news and see the horrible things that are going on here, because there's no focus on the good things that... continue reading
The easiest way to get a "green light" for a movie in Hollywood these days is to steal someone else's old idea. That old idea, however, must be updated. With Hollywood there's just one formula: cinematic remakes of vintage TV shows or old movies are almost always made sleazier - more sexual, more violent, more obscene, and more cynical - than the original. According to Hollywood's calculations, today's young audiences will be disappointed if there isn't an over-the-top raunchy moment every two minutes or so. This is the mandate to be "modern," to avoid the stench of appearing - watch... continue reading
Unquestionably, the weirdest moment of news coverage of the newest Supreme Court nomination came on CBS, where the unveiling of nominee John Roberts was anchored by....another John Roberts, the CBS White House reporter. The CBS veteran, previously known in Canada by his disc-jockey name J.D. Roberts, responded with admirable humor and humility at that strange junction, quipping that after four years on the White House beat, "I couldn't imagine the name 'John Roberts' and the phrase 'widely admired for his intellect, his sound judgment and his personal decency' being used in the same time zone, let alone the same sentence."... continue reading
My guess is that you don't listen to rap music, primarily because you consider it awful noise, not music. Bully for you (and for me). But here's the thing. If you have children - teens and even pre-teens - they do listen to this junk, or at the very least are regularly exposed to it, no matter how much they might deny an interest in it. Care to know what's hot in this genre these days? Just turn on the radio, and surf a bit. You'll find it. The "feel good" lyric of the spring belonged to the rapper 50... continue reading
For months there had been a quiet buzz in both political and publishing circles surrounding "The Book" being written about Sen. Hillary Clinton. The scuttlebutt had it that New York Times bestselling author Edward Klein was in the final stages of a blockbuster expose of the former First Lady, the likes of which could derail her 2008 presidential aspirations. "The Truth About Hillary" is now out and it has lived up to its billing in the fireworks department except the controversy surrounds not Hillary Clinton but author Ed Klein, and the broadsides against him are coming primarily from conservatives, not... continue reading
In the world of celebrity journalism, A-list celebrities are usually in total control with reporters going along for the ride. The desperate need for access to big movie stars to score big ratings leads celebrity-obsessed media outlets to go soft if the alternative-hard, tough journalism-will poison the cocktail. Start with the case of Tom Cruise, who has spent the last few weeks not just selling his new movie "War of the Worlds," but acting as the world's leading evangelist for Scientology, the strange science-fiction cult that's captured the imagination of a number of Hollywood stars, from Cruise to John Travolta... continue reading