Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 4:28 PM by Gene

It is heartening that The Mogul's Friend (and I don't know how ArtsJournal.com linked to this -- isn't this supposed to be "behind the wall"? Maybe Terry Teachout had something to do with it) sees the fight over decency as more than an obsession of a bunch of "cranks and scolds." This is a bipartisan issue; it's a media concentration issue; it's a quality issue; it's a repsonsibility issue. As he quotes one BIGMEDIA opponent,

"Deregulation has simply greased the pockets of Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch and Clear Channel while spawning a fundamental lack of accountability among top media executives. For them, it's always somebody else's fault. We're not blaming all of society's ills on them, but to say they bear no responsibility for violence, sexual behavior and other health issues among young people flies in the face of reality."

Mogul's Friend also gives a heave-ho to that classic self-serving line, "IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT...."

Shock jock supporters [and here of course we MUST include STERNO -- E.D.] say parents carting kids to school can always change the station, though in dozens of cities across the country that simply dials up another tawdry show on a station owned by the same do-anything-for-a-rating conglomerate.

Anything for a rating. That's the problem. THAT'S WHY MEDIA STINK.