FOR pure on-air willpower,it ‘s going to be tough to top what John Siegenthaler did two weeks ago while anchoring the “NBC Nightly News.”
A lesser pro would have cracked.A weaker person could not have kept a straight face.Or his food down.
First,Siegenthaler prefaced a hooray-for-NASCAR piece from Daytona with the news that the “Big race in
Daytona,in fact,is coming up next on NBC.” What a coincidence.
And then,when the NASCAR-is-great report ended,Siegenthaler,again showing no ill effects of his disgusting mission,had even more big news of the day to report:MSNBC would air a special about NASCAR on July 11.
How ‘s that for news?In only nine days,an NBC cable network would be running a special on NASCAR,a con-
tracted NBC property.As for now,don ‘t forget to stay tuned for the big news of this day:NBC ‘s primetime NASCAR telecast.
Every time we hear of how America enjoys a free press, an independent news media, we become infuriated at the
way network and local news departments have increasingly abused that right,privilege and responsibility,how
they ‘ve shamefully abandoned news and newscasts, turning them into network infomercials and primetime
pre-game shows.
Oh,yeah,give Siegenthaler credit.Not every national news broadcast journalist could have his or her credibility and integrity so clearly compromised and not provide some kind of signal that they were being held as a corporate hostage, that they were speaking against their will.
We ‘re particularly fond of New York Times columnist Frank Rich ‘s pieces that condemn America ‘s omnipotent how-low-can-we-go enterprises,from TV,to movies,to political elections. Yep,we agree with Rich:In this anything-for-a-buck shock culture,it ‘s getting tougher to find those in the higher places who choose to travel the higher road.
And then we ‘re left to ponder Rich ‘s regular, mutually pandering appearances on Don Imus ‘s MSNBC/WFAN simulcast. While Rich is heard with Imus in highbrow discussions,such as the one of June 29,on both sides of
these chats,the Imus show is loaded with some of the vilest,most vulgar,racist, hateful,misogynistic, homophobic and defamatory shock sell heard on TV or radio.
Rich hated Mel Gibson ‘s “Passion of the Christ ” and felt it was blatantly anti-Semitic.What then does he think of his pal Imus ‘ on–air vitriol against Ch.4 sportscaster Len Berman ?After Berman resigned his shortlived position as a WFAN host,Imus attacked Berman, calling him,”Lenny the Jew.” Not “Lenny the Weasel,” not “Lenny the Bum,” but “Lenny the Jew.”
Yep,everything that Rich seems to detest about American society seems to have minimally gotten a little push in the downward direction,and over many years,by his very public pal, Don Imus.Or could it be that the esteemed Mr.Rich
had no idea?
On consecutive days,late last month,there were shark attacks on humans in Florida,one of which killed a 14-year-old girl.That news was reported on all-news WCBS Radio. But the day after that fatal attack,WCBS aired a commercial for Belvedere vodka, an ad that not only had all kinds of fun with shark attacks on humans,but twice included a crude expression that no WCBS newsman or newswoman would dare speak on air.
In Mickey Mantle,who died 10 years ago,HBO had a lot of legend to squeeze into a one-hour documentary.But
in “Mantle,” HBO ‘s editing, while,by necessity,very quickly paced,is so well timed that little is lost in the transitions.
The editing in “Mantle ” is as wonderful as the filmmakers ‘ choice to include clips of Mantle not only hitting monster home runs,but laying down bunts.
