Fearful US TV Networks Censor More Shows
The panic that is gripping American TV bosses facing a puritanical backlash or exorbitant government fines has today extended to a cartoon series and a BBC drama. Fox TV has decided to pixelate a bare derriere in a cartoon series, The Family Guy, which was originally broadcast five years ago with no complaints. And American public television network PBS is censoring BBC drama documentary Dirty War, wary of attracting a public backlash and fines from the federal watchdog. PBS, the American public television network, said it would cut scenes featuring a naked woman being decontaminated in a shower, in the film that centres on the aftermath of a dirty bomb attack on London.
Weatherman Loses Job for On-Air 'Slip'
KTNV-TV, Channel 13, fired weekend weather anchor Rob Blair on Sunday, a day after he made an on-air racial slur about Martin Luther King Jr. Jim Prather, vice president and general manager of KTNV, said Blair "stumbled" during a weather update at 7:55 a.m. Saturday but added that "this kind of incident is not acceptable under any circumstances, and I'm truly sorry that this event occurred." Blair was delivering the extended forecast when he said, "For tomorrow, 60 degrees, Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid-60s." About 20 minutes later, Blair told viewers at the ABC affiliate, "Apparently I accidentally said Martin Luther Kong Jr., which I apologize about -- slip of the tongue." He offered a full apology during Saturday's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
Are people harmed by hearing certain words or seeing certain images? I'll give the last work to St. Frank Zappa, from a 1986 interview with Gerald Seligman...
FZ: Well, obviously it's not a problem; nobody's going to die from hearing a word, or even seeing the jerk with the leather clothes on. I mean, what's it going to do to you? There's no medical evidence to support any of the claims that they've made. Last year they were claiming that rock music causes suicide, it causes murder, it causes teenage pregnancies. It's become the whipping boy for all this stuff.
GS: Is there a hidden agenda?
FZ: Of course there is. It's the right-wing idea that America will work better as fascist theocracy. And it's really very clever. I mean, there's no way that you could not admire some of the manipulation that's gone on. But at the same time, the sad part is that Americans are stupefied by whatever they're sticking up their nose or in their veins or they're drinking, or whatever, that they don't put it all together and see it and get pissed off enough about it to fight it.
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