MR MOONVES, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL.

(via Right Voices)

Broadcast giant CBS has moved the Ronald Reagan mini-series from its broadcast division to a cable division. Mrs. James Brolin is not happy with the development: "This is censorship, pure and simple. Well, maybe not all that pure. Censorship never is. Due to their experience with the restrictive English government, the framers of our constitution specifically included a ban on prior restraint in the First Amendment, which is an attempt to stop information from getting out there before the public has a chance to see it at all - exactly what is going on in this case. 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." A Small Victory is also troubled, although not going so far as to call the pressure brought to bear on CBS "censorship."

Repeat after me: Censorship is the use of the police power of the state to prevent the circulation of information. A decision not to present something because it might lose a lot of money is not the same thing. If there is any censorship here, it is in the use of government resources to set up, and then give away, twelve VHF channels and some sixty UHF channels.

None of which stops some people from saying some silly things. Consider Tim Cusprisin of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Finally, you have to wonder which knucklehead at CBS got this going in the first place.

"Why now? There's no demonstrable demand for such a movie, no noticeable wave of Reagan nostalgia."

Give me a break. First CBS does a Hitler mini-series that ties the Enabling Act to terrorism; it then does a show that the editorial board of The New York Times characterizes as of a "notoriously unreliable" format. "Actors made up to look like famous people spout made-up dialogue that often sounds as if it had been written with the primary purpose of keeping viewers tuned in during the sweeps season." Quite. Tightly Wound has more.