Wednesday, December 01, 2004

The National Conversation Does Not Take Place on CBS

John Richards, one of the most thoughtful members of our church, St. Mary the Virgin in Chappaqua, just sent us a link to
this blog item
, adding the comment, Having a national conversation on progressive Christianity will be difficult under these conditions . . .

As you'll see if you check out the link, the article (on Joshua Marshall's blog) is about the refusal of CBS television to run a commercial for the United Church of Christ which highlights the church's openness to people of all backgrounds, including varying sexual orientation. In defending their decision, CBS cited a policy prohibiting ads that take positions on controversial political issues--a flimsy excuse whose illogic Marshall dissects rather thoroughly.

It's obvious that today's TV executives are running scared. They're unnerved by Bush's reelection, the ascendancy of the Christian right, and Michael Powell's politicization of the FCC. But those of us with long memories recognize the trend as simply another familiar swing of the MSM pendulum, which repeatedly veers from "timidly sticking a toe into the waters of dissent" to "unabashedly backing the powers-that-be and demonizing or ignoring anyone who doesn't."

The last worst time for political openness on the TV networks was probably the early- to mid-1960s. The networks made little pretense at fairness or balance between left and right, for example depicting leaders in the anti-war and civil rights movements as somewhere between nuts and treasonous. Thus, the Smothers Brothers' variety show, whose outspokenness was pretty tame in comparison with The Daily Show or even Saturday Night Live, was abruptly cancelled after Pete Seeger sang a satirical anti-war tune one night. At the same time, Bob Hope was being treated as a sort of national treasure for his constant (and unfunny) sneering at smelly, flag-burning hippies.

Having lived through that era, I'm never surprised by the readiness of the MSM to bend to the prevailing political winds. After all, they are driven by money, first, last, and foremost--and you can't expect bean-counters to suddenly become courageous risk-takers for the sake of artistic or political freedom.

We're better off today in at least one way: There are plenty of media outlets, especially cable TV and the internet, that didn't exist a generation ago and that have a large and growing audience. The fringe media's reflection of a broader, more realistic America exerts pressure on the major networks and newspapers. If we are to have a national conversation on progressive Christianity, it will start there.

But that doesn't mean we can let the networks off the hook. Instead, we need to continually point out the ridiculous narrowness of the political, social, and cultural expression that the MSM are willing to present.
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