Free Minds and Free Markets

During the go-go '90s, I often used to hear newsfolks say things like, "In this country, we have a free press" operating in a free market. It was very free. I don't have a specific instance in mind, but I think it came up a lot when they were talking about the newsworthiness of Clintonian blowjobs or the need to allow TV news owners to also buy newspapers and radio in the same market.

With the fresh triumph over communism, it certainly would have been silly to suggest that shareholders and other owners might share certain right-leaning politics with the rest of their economic class.

For an update on this representative slice of Americans, we join a General Electric shareholders meeting already in progress (Via Yglesias):

Just before GE re-elected board members, company brass were hit with questions from shareholders critical of an alleged leftward political slant at MSNBC. [...]

Attendees who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter said shareholders asked about 10 politically charged questions concerning MSNBC as well as one about CNBC.

First up was a woman asking about a reported meeting in which CEO Jeff Immelt and NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker supposedly told top CNBC executives and talent to be less critical of President Obama and his policies.

Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told what to say or not to say about politics. [...]

"The crowd was very upset with MSNBC because of its leftward tilt," one attendee said. "Some former employees said they were embarrassed by it." [...]

Immelt told the assembled he takes a hands-off approach to what is reported on the company's news networks, which prompted a shareholder to criticize him for not managing NBC Uni more effectively.

I've cut out the antics of a Fox News producer who showed up to ask some questions about liberals. He may have riled up the crowd, but the bolded passage above suggests that they didn't need much help.

So maybe shareholders were responding to the needs of the free market, right? After all, it's quite free. Maybe not.

Top-rated Fox News drew an average of 2.4 million viewers in prime time between Jan. 26 and Feb. 22, a spike of 28%, according to Nielsen Media Research data. CNN held onto second place with 1.2 million viewers but dropped 30% from last February, while MSNBC posted an average of 949,000 viewers, up 23%. [...]

For its part, MNSBC posted its best February in history. “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” was up 32%, while “The Rachel Maddow Show” brought in 134% more viewers than the time period had last year.

Back in the '90s, with deregulation fever and Republican ascendance in the air, I guess a rightward tilt was more a feature than a bug. By 2003, a more independent press sure would've been handy. I'm sure it's all OK now, though.

Well, it has certainly been a long time

Yeah, so I took a break for a long time. Now I've moved, got a new job and have a couple minutes here to re-crank-up the blog, such as it is.

I've got a couple ideas of what I'm gonna focus on now, too. I know it's rather done to death, but what the hell. I'm going to do some analysis of the political Right. For example, it seems like conservatives spend a great deal of time and energy telling each other (and anyone else within earshot) what liberals think. They also set up a lot of strawman arguments.

Let's see if I can do a quick study of that one. More soon.

Bush playing fundamentists as chumps?

Just saw news that the former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives has written a book.

It's not out yet, but it looks like it vindicates a major point in Thomas Frank's What's the matter with Kansas.

This point (restated by Frank Rich):

"Values," Mr. Frank writes, "always take a backseat to the needs of money once the elections are won." Under this perennial "trick," as he calls it, Republican politicians promise to stop abortion and force the culture industry "to clean up its act" - until the votes are counted. Then they return to their higher priorities, like cutting capital gains and estate taxes.

Olbermann quoted on The Hotline, of all places, discussing the book:

And MSNBC's Olbermann had a preview of a new book from the former No. 2 man in Pres. Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. David Kuo's "Tempting Faith" will be out 10/16.

Olbermann: "Kuo cites one example after another of a White House that repeatedly uses Evangelical Christians for their votes while consistently giving them nothing in return."

More Olbermann: "According to Kuo, Karl Rove's office referred to Evangelical leaders as the 'nuts.' Kuo says, 'National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ridiculous, out of control and just plain goofy.' So, how does the Bush White House keep the 'nuts' turning out at the polls? One way, regular conference calls with groups lead by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, and radio hosts like Michael Reagan. ... They did get some things from the Bush White House, like the National Day of Prayer. ... Or 'Little trinkets like cufflinks or pens or pads of paper were passed out like business cards. Christian leaders could give them to their congregations or donors or friends to show just how influential they were.'"

Olbermann: "When cufflinks were not enough, the White House played the Jesus card, reminding Christian leaders that 'The knew the president's faith' and begging for patience. ... The office was literally a taxpayer funded part of the Republican
campaign machinery. In 2002 Kuo says, 'The office decided to hold roundtable events for threatened incumbents with faith and community leaders. Using the aura of our White House power to get a diverse group of faith and community leaders to a 'nonpartisan' event discussing how best to help poor people in their area.'"

More: "White House Political Affairs Director Ken Mehlman, 'Loved the idea and gave us our marching orders. There were 20 targets.' Including Saxby Chambliss in Georgia, and John Shimkus in Illinois. Mehlman devised a cover-up for the operation. He told Kuo, 'It can't come from the campaigns, that would make it look too political. It needs to come from the congressional offices. We'll take care of that by having our guys call the office to request the visit'" ("Countdown," 10/11).[EMILY GOODIN]

Thomas Frank actually goes further to say that Republicans promise to do things, like end abortion, that they know they can't do, and they don't really try that hard anyway.

Bloggers Say Murdoch's News Corp Alters MySpace User Posts

I know it probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, but Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is being accused of suppressing links to rival sites on the company's MySpace. The firm bought MySpace last July, according to the Independent Online, where you can get the full story.

News Corp also owns Fox and the New York Post. They can't help but try to control the message at all times, it seems.

Kind of a side issue, but does it drive anyone else nuts that some of the well-spoken criticism cited in the article is so badly spelled?! I know we all make these mistakes, but don't some circumstances suggest a little re-reading?

And How's Your Internal Consistency?

The Philosophers' Magazine has a quiz called Battleground God that tests some of the internal consistency of a person's religious beliefs -- take it! It's fun! It's really more of a logic game than anything else, but it looks for one of my most favorite fallacies -- I can't tell you which without it affecting the outcome of the test. Sorry.

Oh, and how did I do? Glad you asked.


Medal of Honor, bitches!

An allegory for bad TV?

The British TV network Sky One is going to remake The Prisoner.

Damien Timmer, who has been lined up to executive produce the show for Granada, told Broadcast the new series would take "liberties with the original" and would not retain its arty feel.

"Although it will be a radical reinvention, it will still be a heightened show," he added.

...

Bill Gallagher, the writer of the BBC's crime drama Conviction, is reported to be writing the new version.

This link (scroll down a few entries on that link) says something about the new version lacking the arty "pop" feel of the original. And if that's the case, as every fan of the bizarre 17-episode 1967 serial knows, it's a damn shame!

They’re also not filming in it in Portmeirion, Wales, but I’m sure the production company can find an equally odd setting, assuming they’ll set their minds to it.

The original invited – nay, begged – anyone with a theory degree to weigh in with allegorical, semiotic, or otherwise ill-advised interpretations. And a grand time was had by all. For the record, Patrick McGoohan, the lead actor and a creator of the series, has pretty much disavowed all kinds of symbolism and statements that folks have tried to attribute to it. So, I love it because it drives everyone - including me - fucking nuts, and if there's any statement to make, it's that absurdity has its own, sometimes sinister, logic.

The Prisoner centers on a British spy who’s kidnapped to an isolated community called “The Village,” where the faux-democratic administration and its agents among the other inmates use hook and crook to learn why he resigned from his job. Has he sold out? Will he sell out? Can he be bought? For his part, the Prisoner tries to learn who runs the island, without even a hint of whether it's a project of his own government.

Oh, and everyone goes by a number, and there are crazy big white balls that guard The Village, and everyone sells out everyone, and the government knows way too much, and, and, and ...

Go rent the original before it's sullied.

(At least it's not a US company doing it!)

Another fansite, Six of One.

Antidote to NYC-Boston Train Stuffiness

Met a guy on the train from NYC to Boston today, name of Anthony Herrera, known as TV's James Stenbeck on "As the World Turns."

He's a cancer survivor, it turns out, on his way to a cancer conference near Harvard (sorry I don't remember the name just yet), and since I was on my way to something similar, we got to talking. (That's him testifying in front of an Appropriations Subcommittee about stem cell research.)

Speaking in bold, actorly tones, Herrera told me about his wrenching, fucked-up encounter with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, chemo and full-body radiation treatment, an ordeal that partly involved several days of "shitting blood," as he aptly put it. During the conversation, I'd caught the glances of some of the other businessy travelers, and got some gallows humor contrasting an earlier exchange two execs were having about marketing strategy or some other inane shit.

Anyway, he was writing an article about stem-cell treatments and cancer for a Republican journal of some kind - he generally wanted to make people think about what you will do if you're desperate to save your own life. Herrera said he'd gladly have iced pretty much anyone during the worst part of his agony, if he thought it would help. Folks with a moral block against stem-cell research are just one terminal disease from changing their minds, he said.

Word.

Now, I don't feel like Herrera and I see eye to eye, politics-wise - although he had me at "Manhattanites are some of the most provincial people in the world" - but I respect straightforwardness. He expanded his critique of objections to stem-cell research to ethicists and policymakers.

It should be clear that desperation cannot be policy. As much as I deplore the 'culture of life', it's about time everyone grapples with what defines a human being. No - not a human 'life', that's evasion.

Roe v. Wade defines human 'life' in terms of its viability - a developing embryo becomes human at the point that it becomes possible for it to survive outside the womb. That's a goalpost that moves with technology, and it has nothing to do with what makes humans - or any other animal, for that matter - worth defending.

There are links to his book and a poetry website with Willie Nelson (!) on his home page.