CBS has cancelled its "truthful" anti-Reagan hit piece

[uh Clem]

I'm sure that Republicans would be just as diligent in protesting a film that showed Bill Clinton having people murdered or Hillary decorating a Christmas tree with condoms.

[Sava]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Slander is not protected by free speech.

Slander has to be proven... so.... prove it Ann Coulter!

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar


Republicans pride America for its free speech, yet when something appears that they do not like...They wish to silence it so that nobody may hear it.

How.....Soviet

Of course the difference being... vast. I.e., no purges, gulags, deaths, midnight arrests, or even action by the government.

[Sava]

Of course the difference being... vast. I.e., no purges, gulags, deaths, midnight arrests, or even action by the government.

yeah, we reserve that for the Arab community...

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar
While I agree this movie is too political (I mean all political movies will bend the facts, however this one went a bit far....) however to silence them is to begin a slip into despotism.
If the Republicans have enough power to begin shutting things down that violate party doctrine...
No peoples should be silenced from giving out their opinion, and they should not be limited in how they express their opinion unless it harms other people.

Again with the bizarre implication that this is an action taken by the government. How is it that people can mistake private judgement for governmental censorship is beyond me... unless you are purposely mistaking the two.

[Sava]

this isn't governmental censorship... and that's not what he's asserting. He's comparing CBS's "private judgement" to governmental censorship. Which, IMO, isn't that far off.

[JohnT]

If anyone has an alternate view, let them produce and air it. Then let the viewers decide.

The viewers decided, Mike. Before they even saw the show, they decided.

[Sava]

Originally posted by JohnT

If anyone has an alternate view, let them produce and air it. Then let the viewers decide.

The viewers decided, Mike. Before they even saw the show, they decided.

no... CBS executives decided...

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by JohnT




Of course the difference being... vast. I.e., no purges, gulags, deaths, midnight arrests, or even action by the government.

Very rarely do nations suddenly take a deep plunge into depsotism.

this isn't governmental censorship... and that's not what he's asserting. He's comparing CBS's "private judgement" to governmental censorship. Which, IMO, isn't that far off.

Exactly.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Sava
this isn't governmental censorship... and that's not what he's asserting. He's comparing CBS's "private judgement" to governmental censorship. Which, IMO, isn't that far off.

The difference here is that the production units and the television units are largely separate - i.e., CBS isn't "making" this film it's just "airing" it. The production company (Storyline, iirc) is a separate entity from CBS and is in charge of all aspects of production (script, hiring of actors/directors/editing) etc. (a separation that has existed since the 1950s).

The point that I'm trying to make is all that CBS has done is cancelled airing the program on their main network. Barring some possible contractual issues that I am unaware of, there is nothing preventing Storyline from selling the property to anybody else who wants to pay their price.

So CBS didn't cancel the production of the movie. It still exists, ready for somebody, ANYBODY to take it and air it.

And MtG? The film is already in the can (hell, it was supposed to air in a couple of weeks), meaning that plenty of first-hand witnesses to this movie and its script exists.

[JohnT]

By the way, the producers of The Reagans are the same people who produced the film Chicago. They're also leading an effort to bring a number of musicals to the TV screen, including "The Music Man" and "Kiss Me, Kate."

[Whaleboy]

You wanted free speech. Deal with it.

[DinoDoc]

So much vitriol over a TV movie. I especially enjoyed the idiotic statements regarding the first ammendment.

[Shogun Gunner]

Barbara Streinsand was reportedly on the set during the production of this show. I can only imagine her input and comments...

[Theben]

CBS cancelled a program. They have the right to do that, espec. since they're in business to make money and enough people complained to make them think they could lose money in the end. That's capitalism for ya.
OTOH, the right-wingers seem to think that this means EVERYTHING alluded to in the flick (that's negative towards Ronnie, nach) has been disproven, and that he's a saint beyond reproach.
And the Left is saying this is a free-speech issue, which it isn't. CBS is under no guarantees to air anything it initially contracts to produce.

Basically, y'all a bunch of jackasses.