[OT] Re: Computer fatalities

[Randy Edwards]

   Since this is wandering way off-topic and I could easily reply in-depth 
about the issue, this will be my last post on this topic to the list.

 MC> Then, er, how do you explain MSNBC keeping Imus?

   I think there's a big difference between a radio shock jock who the 
majority of Americans do not take seriously and a TV show host who has been 
on the air for decades and who is highly respected.  Their audiences are very 
different and the formats of their shows are also very different.

   Donahue brought on a couple of guests who calmly, rationally, and logically 
poked huge holes in the Bush administration's warmongering.  That doesn't 
really describe Imus' show from what I've heard.

   (I'll only in passing point out Howard Stern's firing, which he claims was 
for political purposes when he switched to being anti-Bush, nor the 
mitigating factor of the change in political climate from then to now -- 3 
years after the illegal invasion of Iraq when we see that the US is losing 
the war and stuck in a quagmire.)

 PL> Err, I highly doubt that was the reason. 

   You could be right.  But that isn't what Donahue -- who has literally 
decades of experience in hosting mainstream network TV talk shows -- nor his 
producer say.  Donahue has given several interviews on the topic and he is 
crystal clear: talking with MSNBC management at the time of his firing they 
did not want his show to air anti-war guests and feared it might become a 
focal point for anti-war sentiment.

 PL> But in the end, the *only* thing that matters to them is money.

   In general, I agree with that.  I don't think I'd argue that it's "always" 
the only issue, but it's probably true 99% of the time.

   But just acknowledging that point doesn't counter Donahue's position.  In 
an era where the administration/FCC was handing out record-setting fines for 
shows it deemed offensive and where Congress was actively debating passing 
additional laws to restrict broadcast speech, the management of MSNBC could 
have come to a decision that it was in their fiscal best interests to dump a 
very popular show that could likely offend the people who regulate them.

 Regards,
 .
 Randy

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