Jim Sharkey

Apparently you've never seen Baywatch or V.I.P. Count yourself and your
brain lucky on those counts. :-)

Me:
Baywatch a little, long ago, VIP for no more than about 5 minutes. And, erm,
neither is in anyway like what Alberto nor I would class as sexy. Neither do
our censors: Baywatch used to be aired at about 5pm on Sundays.


Jim:
To be fair, there *is* a certain Puratinism that seems to be a general
cultural thing for us.

Me:
Yep.


Jim:
To me, when the Federal Communications Commission fines Howard Stern $1.5
million because of something he says, it's censorship, right or wrong. When
an advertiser threatens to drop a show or a group puts pressure on its
creators because of a gay character being in it, that's *not* censorship. If
you wish to call it "shadow censorship," you may, but I don't think of it
that way.


Me:
It is very much censorship - corporate censorship. Just the same as when a
news program, say 60 Minutes, has to backpedal on an expose into, say lung
cancer and tobacco companies, or a sponsoring gas company vetoes the airing
of a show on Auschwitz.

Thank heavens we have two truly independent networks. Government owned,
(like the BBC) we know they must be doing OK because if both sides complain
about the biased reporting, then you know you're getting your news right.

Brett

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