|
LET'S ROLL ON TO SHOWTIME!
GOP: Moving Reagan Movie to Showtime is Not
Enough
By Charles Mahaleris
Talon News
November 6,
2003
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- CBS's decision earlier this week to
sell its controversial mini-series "The Reagans'" to the Showtime cable
channel does not solve anything in the eyes of the nation's
Republicans.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said late Tuesday,
following CBS' announcement that they would pull the mini-series from its
network broadcast, that the change does not solve the overall problem with
the mini-series.
"The CBS decision to air 'The Reagans' miniseries on Showtime does not
address the central concern over historical accuracy, nor does it correct
the fact that the program does not present, in their own words, 'a
balanced portrayal of the Reagans,'" Gillespie said.
Gillespie called on Showtime to allow a panel of historians and people
who know Reagan to review the program for accuracy before the show is
run.
He continued, "If they are unwilling to correct the imbalance they
themselves acknowledge and review the program for historical accuracy,
Showtime should inform its viewers through a crawl every ten minutes that
the program is a fictional portrayal of the Reagans and the Reagan
Presidency, and is not intended to be historically accurate."
Not everyone would agree with Gillespie. Liberal entertainer Barbara
Streisand said on Tuesday, "This is censorship, pure and simple."
The legendary performer, whose husband James Brolin portrays Reagan in
the mini-series, said, "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."
CBS' statement on the change says, "CBS will not broadcast THE REAGANS
on November 16 and 18. This decision is based solely on our reaction to
seeing the final film, not the controversy that erupted around a draft of
the script. Although the mini-series features impressive production values
and acting performances, and although the producers have sources to verify
each scene in the script, we believe it does not present a balanced
portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience. Subsequent edits that
we considered did not address those concerns."
Center for Equal Opportunity President Linda Chavez said on Wednesday
that CBS' decision had more to do with money than any ideological
shift.
She said, "The Left hated Ronald Reagan when he was president. And now
that he's incapacitated by Alzheimer's and can't defend himself, they'd
like to rewrite the history of his presidency. But the folks at CBS
understand economics, too, and what they don't need is for the millions of
Americans who revere Ronald Reagan to register their protest of this
leftist hit job by blocking CBS from their TV sets."
Copyright � 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved. | 