----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 8:14
PM
Subject: RE: [Sndbox] For
discussion
This quote was rich:
I don't believe
Democrats often, if ever, try to muscle the First Amendment like this.
I suppose she's forgotten her role in
forcing Dr. Laura Schlesinger off the air?
Charles
Mims
A Sad Day for Artistic Freedom
Posted on
November 4, 2003
I am deeply disappointed that CBS, the network that in 1964 gave me
complete artistic control in creating television specials, now caved in to
right wing Republican pressure to cancel the network broadcast of the movie
The Reagans. (And I say MOVIE - because this is NOT a documentary - it's a
television drama.) The movie will now be aired on Showtime, where the
difference in viewership is in the millions.
One can only imagine the
kind of pressure that would compel CBS to take such an extraordinary action.
This was an organized Republican spin machine at work. Remember the Dixie
Chicks controversy? It wasn't the larger general public that called in to
radio stations and burned CDs, it was a small group of right wing activists.
In fact, now the band is more popular than ever, with a sold out summer tour.
I don't believe Democrats often, if ever, try to muscle the First
Amendment like this. For example, in 1983, no one stopped NBC from airing
Kennedy, a biopic that portrayed President Kennedy and other members of his
family and administration as deeply flawed, even though the movie could have
potentially been hurtful to Jackie Kennedy, who was still alive to see it, as
well as to her children.
This is censorship, pure and simple. Well,
maybe not all that pure. Censorship never is. Due to their experience with the
restrictive English government, the framers of our constitution specifically
included a ban on prior restraint in the First Amendment, which is an attempt
to stop information from getting out there before the public has a chance to
see it at all - exactly what is going on in this case. Of course, CBS as a
company has the legal right to make decisions about what they do and do not
air. However, these important decisions should be based on artistic integrity
rather than an attempt to appease a small group of vocal dissidents. Indeed,
today marks a sad day for artistic freedom - one of the most important
elements of an open and democratic society.
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