WHY IS IT THAT EVERY TIME I TURN ON CNN, FOX NEWS OR MSNBC, THEY’RE ALWAYS CLAIMING TO BE ON TO SOMETHING BIG?

by Alex Bennett
for HUSTLER Magazine – May 2010

While I’m doing my radio show on Sirius XM, we usually have a TV tuned to CNN. More often than not, when I look over at it, there’s a graphic announcing “Breaking News.” But the story it heralds is usually very inane. That’s one of many things wrong with TV news. Because of their need to fill the airwaves 24/7, producers take a small news item and make it into something big. Breaking News: Obama Pardons a Turkey; Breaking News: Balloon Boy Speaks; Breaking News: Dr. Sanjay Gupta Has H1N1.

I often feel like a dog chasing a ball that my master only pretended to throw. I see “Breaking News” and jump to attention. Ninety-nine times out of 100 it amounts to nothing. Television news is becoming a kid who cries “Breaking news!” The words news and breaking have been cheapened. As a result, real news gets obscured.

The “Breaking News!” tag should be reserved for blood, carnage or Joe Lieberman caught in a tryst with a young boy. It should signal an event that impacts my life, not another car chase down the Santa Monica Freeway.

Am I complaining about nothing? Am I turning into Andy Rooney? I’m concerned that when there is something really important, it’s going to be difficult for us to fully grasp. One minute the “breaking news” is that H1N1 is a horrible killer; the next minute it’s just a bad cold. Mammograms are useless before 40; five minutes later they’re vital. I never hear the “breaking news” I really want: “Men should check all women’s breasts for lumps—selfexams found useless.”

The so-called news we’re being fed is trivial. The “Balloon Boy” hoax is a perfect example. This event would have had no traction if it weren’t for the networks’ 24/7 news addiction. First, the networks followed the dramatic saga of a six-year-old who may have stowed away in a balloon that became airborne. Never mind that the balloon was so small and flimsy, it almost certainly couldn’t carry the additional weight.

The networks wanted to believe the tall tale so they’d have something to report. It was only after the hoax was revealed that the story had any real news value. Although headlines blared that the parents were charged with filing a false report and other offenses, the people who actually should have been prosecuted were the network honchos who turned an obvious publicity stunt into a major story.

Another case in point: the news media’s obsession with Sarah Palin. This woman of dubious distinction was a city councilwoman and then mayor of Wasilla, the meth capital of Alaska. Next she became chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission only to quit after a year. Somehow Palin became governor, then had a stint as the Republican V.P. running mate of John McCain. Shortly after losing that race, she returned to the governor’s job and, true to form, resigned (amid rumors of malfeasance) after only two years in office.

Then this piece of Alaskan trailer trash writes a book. Her ability as an author makes Dan Brown look like Tom Wolfe, yet the news people are fish to the bait. Remember, she is now nothing—not a governor, not a congresswoman or senator. Palin’s only distinction is that McCain made the worst mistake of his life by choosing her as his running mate.

Even so, reporters flock to Palin like flies on shit. During the ex-gov’s recent book tour, they followed her bus around the country. At every stop she’d get off the bus, hold up Trig (her Down syndrome baby) like he was the Lion King, then get interviewed for local news shows. So-called journalists treated Palin as if she actually mattered—vaulting her to a status she scarcely deserved—while she was just using them to sell books. Reality was again superseded by the big distortion.

Apparently news is not news unless the news sources say it is. “Balloon Boy,” which had no effect in any way on your life, became news because it would get eyes. Meanwhile, a financial collapse in Dubai, which does actually impact your life, gets very little attention because it’s not a ratings magnet.

The bottom line is that the 24/7 news networks present only the illusion of news. Unfortunately, for most of us it’s the only news we get. Americans are not stupid; they’re just uninformed.

Alex Bennett is a longtime HUSTLER contributor. The two-time Emmy winner, who broke into broadcasting as a teenager, currently calls Sirius Left 146 his radio home.

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MAY 2010 – HUSTLER Magazine


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OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES ON CAPITOL HILL HAVE SCREWED US RIGHT AND LEFT. IT’S TIME TO SEND A POWERFUL MESSAGE.

by Alex Bennett
From HUSTLER MAGAZINE – March 2010

The other day I saw an interview with that enemy of the people, Glenn Beck. I’ve always believed the adage that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and Beck proved me right when he said, “Everybody is mad at Washington.”

The people who disgusted me at those televised town hall meetings and at the March on Washington—yelling and screaming their nonsense while clutching badly spelled signs— were angry at the body politic.Well, so am I.

Have I become one of them? My politics are different, but my ire is just as rich. I too share a hatred for that fools confederation in the legislative and administrative branches of government that makes our lives a living hell. I differ, however, in how I see the country moving forward.

Politicians! Day after day, week after week, year after year, they sit around playing a stupid little game using their dicks (and some vaginas) as swords to see who has the power. At the same time, We the People sit with our dicks in our hands doing nothing while getting screwed. The worst part is we put up with it thinking that eventually these jerks will fix the economy. In fact, they keep playing their games, and we keep suffering.

Once a U.S. senator gets elected, he stays in office for six years. When it’s time for reelection, he has accrued enough power (read: money from lobbyists) to retain his seat. This cycle repeats itself until one day the senator drops dead of old age—an age achieved due to a great healthcare plan paid for by us.

In the meantime lobbyists bought him lunches and dinners, paid for his trips to exotic lands and gave him who knows how many other perks that will allow his family to inherit millions. All that time he lived off the public dole while using his influence to wheel and deal. What do we get? An early grave and the debt we leave our loved ones.

These guys are a bunch of worthless fucks, and even the best of them doesn’t make up for the rest. It gets worse each year. The games get nastier, and less gets done. As of now this country is at a standstill, paralyzed by the greed and stupidity that is called Washington politics.

Are you getting the idea I’m pissed? Well, I’ll bet you are too—even if your politics are the polar opposite of mine. What we have in common is that we’re sick of the way business is being done in our name. Our politicians have ceased to care about us. It doesn’t matter whether they’re Democrats or Republicans.

Happily, we’re still able to fight back. Forget those well-intentioned letters to your representatives, and enough already with demonstrations and those cute placards with catchy phrases—they’re a waste of time. The good ol’ boys don’t care what you think. They’re way past that. What we need to do is vote the bastards out!

Our supposed two-party system is an illusion. The Democratic and Republican parties have almost finished their merge into a single, pro-corporate entity. The fighting between them is a charade designed to keep us thinking there is a difference. It’s time for a third party that responds to the needs of 21st-century Americans.

I wish that some of the other political parties— for example, the Green Party, the Labor Party—were viable, but they just aren’t. Ross Perot managed to catch that lightning in a bottle until he went off the rails. People responded to Perot because he was articulating the public’s frustrations.

Creating a powerful third party, and even a fourth or fifth party, would be a daunting task that might take many years. So what can we do in the meantime? I say we scare the shit out of them!

Let’s send a message to every incumbent in Washington, even if they’re doing a good job, by not voting for him or her.Vote for a challenger no matter who it is. That doesn’t mean Democrats have to vote Republican or vice versa. There are always other candidates, some of whom might not be that bad once you listen to them.

The message has to be sent to our representatives. We’re their employer, and they’d better shape up. Otherwise they’ll wind up on the same unemployment line with everyone else—the unemployment line created by the politicians. If we kick the bastards out in large enough numbers, they just might pay attention.

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Alex Bennett is a longtime HUSTLER contributor. The two-time Emmy winner, who broke into broadcasting as a teenager, currently calls Sirius Left 146 his radio home.

You may purchase the hard copy of the March 2010 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine (with free shipping) at HustlerMagazine.com. Comes with full length DVD and free shipping!

You may purchase a digital copy of the March 2010 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine at UnderCoverMags.com.

ONCE WE WERE THE GOOD GUYS. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO CHANGE THAT?

by Alex Bennett
From HUSTLER MAGAZINE February 2010

A few months back I was watching one of those contentious town hall meetings. I can’t remember the congressman who was holding it, but I can remember the endless parade of mindless assholes reciting what they had heard on right-wing radio and TV talk shows. All I could think was, Where is the exit to this country?

I grew up in the ’40s and ’50s. My life was that of a suburban kid with a mom and pop, a cat, a dog and a bike that wheeled me around my naive and cloistered world. America had just come out of the Great Depression, and that made the nation more conscious of another person’s plight. Americans had witnessed suffering every time they passed a bread line or saw a homeless person on the street. Most Americans of that era knew they were just a paycheck away from being in the same boat.

Then came the Second World War. I remember seeing those Gold Stars in windows, signaling that the family had lost a son or daughter. People in the neighborhood would do what they could to honor and comfort them.We understood the need for individual sacrifice to protect the nation as a whole.

Even so, segregation prevailed beyond the walls of my pretty and neat world, and the House Un-American Activities Committee was taking aim at imaginary Communists.

I was luckier than most. My parents were very hip. Dad was a musician, and both he and Mom were bohemians. Some of the people who came into our home were the very people Congress wanted put away. My parents weren’t Communists, just real lefties. Yet the conservatives of that time would probably have called me a “Red Diaper Baby.”

I remember my father taking me down to City Hall when the House Un-American Activities Committee held hearings in San Francisco. We were standing out front with other good Americans to protest the idea of our country being overrun by jackbooted witchhunters. One time I snuck into the hearing and watched as one of my favorite radio personalities, a guy who told charming stories about San Francisco, had his life ruined with one simple question: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” The next morning I turned on the radio, but he wasn’t there. I was 15, and it was indelibly etched in my brain forever: They took him off the air!

I think this is when we started to lose our cherry. We were becoming paranoid, looking for evildoers in every shadow.

The Korean War wasn’t exactly the most ignoble of conflicts, but by the time we got to Vietnam, our imperialist impulses were in full flower. The only saving grace: Some Americans were vehemently opposing the war. There was still hope that good would triumph as people used their voices and bodies to protest the conflict in Southeast Asia. Eventually they chased a President from office. Once again we could look at the world with a sense of pride.

But even as we were patting ourselves on the back, a former die-hard leftist—who was mobbed up, had cheated on his first wife, ratted on his friends and, worst of all, was an actor—became President of the United States. Ronald Reagan created a supreme culture of selfishness and nationalism masquerading as conservatism. Since then, it’s been all downhill. Even the Clinton years didn’t stop the greed and dirty tricks that gained even more momentum under the Bushies.

All of a sudden, America was believing the poison spewed by right-wing radio talk show hosts. The Big Lie became the Big Truth. America had dumbed down. Oh, I know what you’re saying: “We elected Obama, didn’t we?” Sure, we did, because we succumbed to another Big Lie. He was going to change things, right? So what, exactly, has changed? Each passing day he stabs us in the back.

Look at us. We have become a country of selfish people. People who couldn’t care less about their neighbors. People who have long forgotten what right and wrong are. We have become a nation hypnotized by the media to believe whatever they tell us.

Worst of all, we live under the mistaken impression that America is the greatest country in the world when in fact that ended years ago. Today we are falling apart at the seams. Capitalism is devouring itself and our humanity. Morality has vanished.

How can we put the brakes on this downward slide to oblivion? I don’t know. Back in the days of my youth we were the good guys. Am I being too old-fashioned to want that back?

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Alex Bennett is a longtime HUSTLER contributor. The two-time Emmy winner, who broke into broadcasting as a teenager, currently calls Sirius Left 146 his radio home.

You may purchase the hard copy of the February 2010 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine (with free shipping) at HustlerMagazine.com. Comes with full length DVD and free shipping!

You may purchase a digital copy of the February 2010 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine at UnderCoverMags.com.

by Alex Bennett

DO YOU KNOW WHY YOUR TV IS ABOUT TO FUCK YOU?

Okay, here’s the exam. What does the date February 17, 2009, mean to you? You’ve seen it, but where exactly? How about superimposed over the lower third of your favorite TV show? Now you’ve got it. That’s the day television goes completely digital, and your old reliable analog TV disappears forever. Maybe. Have I lost you yet? Well, here’s what you should know:

In May 1941 the FCC adopted America’s television standard of 525 total scan lines. Those are electron beams that sketch the picture in small lines across the face of the television tube. We weren’t the first country with TV. Germany, for example, had it in the ’30s. Their system was developed to a standard of 625 scan lines. The more lines, the better the definition of the picture. That’s why, if you’ve ever watched TV in Europe, the picture always seems so much better. Why we adopted an inferior system is beyond me, but I’ll bet it had to do with politics and payoffs.

There was another problem with international TV broadcasting: Our system was called NTSC, while other countries could choose between PAL and SECAM. There was no worldwide standard. What a mess. In the U.S., TV made its commercial debut in 1946. The momentous event would have been earlier, but World War II got in the way. Everything was black-and-white and fuzzy, but people would sit around happily watching the old Indian head test pattern just because it was there.

Color came along soon after. The first system to be approved by the FCC was from CBS, which started broadcasting color programs in 1951. Viewing required a TV set with a large whirling color wheel that made it incompatible with black-and-white shows. Archrival RCA’s original system was rejected because it wasn’t ready for prime time. However, its engineers persevered, coming up with, among other things, a black-and-whitecompatible system that coincidently improved on the original set. RCA also reportedly started rumors that the CBS set’s color wheel could come loose and decapitate its viewers. The fight between the two titans was prolonged, but CBS finally threw in the towel due to mounting production problems. RCA’s television network, NBC, launched limited colorcasts in 1954. That was 55 years ago, and one could argue that nothing of significance has changed in the United States since, with the exception of stereo sound.

In the meantime, other countries— notably Japan—had been working on new systems meant to create a TV picture in high definition. Many of them were analog as opposed to being strictly digital. I suppose another explanation is due. Analog is a variable continuous signal. Digital is a series of 0s and 1s basically representing on and off. Digital is said to be more flexible and efficient than analog, and it uses less bandwidth.

Still scratching your head? Never mind. It’s not important to know how digital technology works, just that it exists and that some people are going to get rich from it. In case you haven’t been paying attention, digital has been, over the past few years, slowly replacing analog. That’s why the FCC, which loves to establish standards, eventually mandated a cutoff date for analog television: February 17, 2009. Yes, it’s a Tuesday, which makes no sense at all.

So are you going to benefit from all this? Well, the analog system was ancient, and you will get a better picture with digital. All those crappy shows on your old TV will look better, but they’ll still be crappy shows. The real beneficiaries will be the manufacturers of TV equipment.

If you have an old-fashioned tube set, you must have a converter if you still want to receive a video broadcast signal on it. That will cost around $50—if you get a coupon from the government. On the other hand, if you have cable or satellite, you’re already good to go. If you don’t, maybe it’s time to buy a newfangled digital picture box. The cost of the flat-screen digital TVs is coming down to what tube prices once were. If you look around, you can get into a 32-inch set for around $500.

There will, of course, be some people left out in the digital cold because food comes first. After all, we’re in a recession. Gas costs a bundle, and mac ’n’ cheese is a major staple for some in the working class. How are they supposed to get their entertainment and information?

There might have been a better way. Those old channels could have been kept on the air, but the telecommunications boys have been drooling over them for years. Think of the bucks being spent by millions of people to do the conversion. It’s good for business. Still confused? Then you probably don’t want to hear about the two existing digital systems: 1080i and 720p, not to mention the 1080p, which….

Aw, fuck it! It’s all a big mess.

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Alex Bennett is a longtime HUSTLER contributor. The twotime Emmy winner, who broke into broadcasting at age 14, currently calls Sirius Left 146 his radio home.

by Alex Bennett

THANKS TO A STUPID GOVERNMENT EDICT AND PENNY-PINCHING CORPORATIONS,TERRESTRIAL RADIO IS IN DIRE STRAITS.

Did you know that radio has gone HD? Better sound and many new channels all on one signal? You didn’t? That’s probably because you, like so many people, don’t listen to radio anymore. Listenership is down 14% in the past ten years. Today you listen to your iPod, a CD, Internet programming or perhaps commercial-free music on one of the satellite networks. There are so many better options, especially since your local radio station has done nothing to maintain your interest.

How did this chasm come about? Back in 1996, President Bill Clinton—in one of his more stupid moments—signed the Telecommunications Act, which deregulated broadcasting. In doing so he changed the way broadcast companies operate.

Until that time, these companies were limited in the number of outlets they could own. The original standard was “the 7-7-7 rule”: seven TV, seven AM and seven FM in total, with no more than one outlet each in a particular market. There was one additional proviso: If you owned all three and a newspaper in the same market, you had to get rid of either the newspaper or one of the broadcast outlets. With deregulation, all of a sudden you could own as many outlets as you wanted. The newspaper rule still held, sort of, but Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation (the parent company of Fox) is trying to get that waived too.

The floodgates were opened, and the rush was on. Broadcast groups gobbled up radio stations faster than you could count. When the dust settled, the winner was Clear Channel Communications with 1,250 AM and FM outlets. Burp!

That’s where everything unraveled. In the past, if you owned a station, you competed against all the other stations in your market. They were your sworn enemies. Now they became your compatriots. With some outfits owning as many as eight stations in a market, sales departments were combined, as were marketing, accounting and the like. Even programming was consolidated with, in some cases, a single program director in charge of more than one station. It goes without saying that tens of thousands of broadcast professionals across the country found themselves out of work. All “redundancies” were eliminated.

What about radio personalities? You can’t replace them, right? Enter a nefarious practice known as “voice tracking.” For years radio owners had wet dreams over the possibility of automation, but nothing seemed to click…until voice tracking. With this technology the personality comes in to record just his voice. A computer adds the music later. Not only does he do the voice for the shift on his home station, but also for stations in maybe three or four other markets. Now one employee has replaced as many as three others. The station saves even more by paying the jock only for the time actually spent working.

Previously, a live four-hour shift paid for four hours. That same time block now pays talent only for the duration he worked recording the show. Remember, music is added later. Did you know that the personality on your local station isn’t even in its studio? Usually the only live shows are in the morning, when a certain immediacy is required.

What if a company owns two stations with the same format in the same market? Before deregulation they would compete, each trying to outdo the other. Now, owned by a single master, the lesser of the two stations is told to hold itself back in deference to the one considered a “cash cow.” Cost saving and conglomeration have dragged down a medium that once thrived on competition.

Talk shows remain virtually the only live programming, but even they have replaced hundreds of people because most talk is syndicated by satellite. In the process, localism was killed; talk shows now speak to the entire nation, not your hometown.

Diversity is another casualty: Clear Channel, which makes no effort to hide its politically conservative stance, has even contributed campaign money to George W. Bush. Not surprisingly, the only hosts allowed on Clear Channel stations are, for the most part, of a right-wing bent.

And what about single-station owners? They just couldn’t compete with the evil empire. They had to sell. Before deregulation it was independent stations that served America’s small towns with local news and other fare.

In time all things become obsolete. Just try to find a pay phone these days. The record store is all but gone.

Terrestrial radio survived the onslaught of television by adapting. This time, however, it may just be the end. Technologically, radio is a wireless medium with higher quality than the Internet or MP3s. But the medium that survived TV may just have been undone by its biggest foe, greed. 

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Alex Bennett is a longtime HUSTLER contributor. The twotime Emmy winner, who broke into broadcasting at age 14, currently calls Sirius Left 146 his radio home.

Sirius Satellite Radio host Alex Bennett explains why our media has utterly failed the American people.

Once upon a time broadcast news was nothing more than rewritten copy from the newspapers. Most newscasts ended with the admonishment “for up-to-the-minute details, consult your local newspaper.” Sure, there were a few bona fide news commentators, but actual proactive coverage was scarce.

A dying breed? Edward R. Murrow set the

It wasn’t until World War II that radio news came into its own, thanks to a renegade reporter named Edward R. Murrow. His vivid reports from London rooftops during air raids put radio reporting on the map. Murrow and his team of CBS reporters defined what we now call “broadcast journalism.”

After the war, the “Murrow Boys” helped shape television news, giving CBS its “Tiffany Network” reputation. Broadcast news was finally being taken seriously by everyone except the network “beancounters,” who couldn’t understand why their bosses allowed it to run at a loss. The bosses simply wanted something positive to point to when people complained about the Beverly Hillbillies. But that was then, and this is now.

Tim Russert yucks it up with NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell and

The downfall of broadcast news can be traced to the arrival of CNN in 1980. Not that CNN wasn’t a great concept. Disturbed by what he saw as the bias of Dan Rather—who’d inject his views into newscasts—Ted Turner decided to create a nonbiased, 24/7 news service. Now, for the first time, the news had to be profitable. Too bad money and good journalism don’t mix…unless you compromise your product. For years, CNN just barely kept afloat. Then, in 1991, its coverage of the Gulf War changed everything. CNN was the only news organization with a live feed during the bombing of Baghdad. The network’s subsequent war coverage not only gave cable news credibility, but also large numbers. With numbers came profit.

Broadcast news had become big money just as the grizzled and aging old guard reporters were falling by the wayside. They were replaced by “journalists” who had a new agenda: fame, glory, lucrative salary and perfect hair. Journalistic credibility quickly eroded. By the time we got to the Iraq War, the bar had been significantly lowered.

Smelling profits, other organizations entered the cable news fray. With a right-wing bias, Fox not only gave CNN a run for its money, but eventually pulled in more viewers. CNN responded by making its reporting more conservative. Just as bad, General Electric—a major war contractor—seized ownership of NBC and its cable news outlets.

During the Iraq War a Bush Administration genius came up with the idea of embedding journalists in with the military. Under the guise of freedom of the press, “embedding” reporters became a way to keep them in line. When you’re out covering a war with the troops, the last thing you want is to piss them off. The fear of being cut from access or, worse, getting yourself killed made the press more compliant and, ultimately, a willing tool of the Bush machine.

Reporters became a cheering squad for the Iraq War, presenting coverage that was little more than a squalid reality show. Reliable access to vital information was cut off. Sometimes facts were even falsified.
As the disinformation grew, so did support for the war. At one point, 75% of the American public believed Iraq helped perpetrate the events of 9/11. The news also pushed the notion of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction despite the lack of evidence. Bush and his boys played the press like a finely tuned violin.

A few alternative news sources protested, but they were not widely accessible. It wasn’t that the public was stupid, just too trusting of their mainstream sources. Mainstream news had betrayed them.

Imagine interrupting a possible leader of the free world, in midsentence no less, to break for a commercial. Since when did debates of this kind even have commercials? Since broadcast news went into the dumper, that’s when!

What’s wrong with running commercials, you might ask? On commercial programs, ad costs are based on the size of the audience. How do you get a large audience? You create drama. So if your political debates are part of your commercial programming, you treat them as you would a reality show.

“Let’s promote the good-looking black guy against the white woman.” That had to be going through their heads. Likewise: “Forget John Edwards. There’s no tension there. Besides, he hates corporations, and we are one.”

The candidates who didn’t fit the networks’ scenarios were cast as losers, making it impossible for them to get traction. The networks weren’t promoting a debate as much as they were a “cage match.” Not only did they pick the players, but they also created tension.

Tim Russert and Brian Williams hosting a Democratic Presidential debate.

The worst culprit is “Oh, sweetheart, you shouldn’t have worried about telling us you’re a lesbian. Heck, dear, I used to eat a mean pussy in my day!” Tim Russert, the pudgy, annoying chief of NBC’s Washington bureau and moderator of Meet the Press. (The show should be renamed Meet the Russert since he monopolizes every discussion.) At one point during a debate he shouted at Hillary Clinton, then argued with her. Hey, Tim, please look up the definition of moderator !

Russert also trotted out endless poll numbers that pitted black voters against white voters. On one occasion he even made the blanket statement that Hispanic people don’t like black people. What is the point of setting one group against another if not to jazz up the “cage match.”Thanks,Tim, for a hot, heaping pile of undermined race relations. On the sillier side, NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell swooned over Senator Barack Obama. Sliding off the tracks entirely, Mitchell (whose husband is former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan) announced, “He has a lot of young supporters like Maria Shriver.” Maria Shriver? Young? Maybe to Mrs. Greenspan, who is just a facelift away from looking like Norman Bates’s mother.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer

And now back to CNN. When Senator Christopher Dodd was still seeking the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination, he would publish (on his Web site) the amount of debate time the candidates would get to state their various positions. Obama and Clinton usually got the lion’s share. However, CNN’s old Wolf Blitzer spoke more than either of them. Shut up, Wolf!

The Democratic debate in Cleveland was the biggest draw up to that time. Eight million people watched it, and NBC cleaned up in advertising revenue. Creating this newest reality show by choosing the cast and selling it to America had made the “cage match” a major hit.

Am I suggesting that news people be censored? No! I’m saying they should get back to the moral principals that guided broadcast journalism in its golden age. The networks should treat news as if it were a wildlife sanctuary. Just sit in the brush, film the action and let nature take its course. Don’t disturb the order of things. If you don’t make money, run it as a loss and figure that’s your penance for running Deal or No Deal.
If you ever watched Star Trek, you’re familiar with the “Prime Directive.” Interfering in the natural evolution of a civilization was the only crime that carried the death penalty. Am I suggesting that these news creeps be executed for trying to meddle with the natural course of our lives? Of course not! Well, maybe. Sure, why not? They’re useless anyway.