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MaximsNews
Columnist
Rory
O'Connor
Free
Speech Impediment
Rory
O'Connor is
a documentary filmmaker and journalist. He
is also president and co-founder of the
international media firm Globalvision,
Inc, www.globalvision.org
and The Global Center, an
affiliated non-profit educational
foundation. See
his Bio. See his Blog: www.roryoconnor.org
He is a Contributor to www.MaximsNews.com
RoryOConnor@MaximsNews.com
UNITED NATIONS -- 11 March 2005 / www.MaximsNews.com
/ David E. Kelley
– the Emmy Award-winning creator of
such memorable series’ as Picket
Fences, Doogie Howser M.D., Ally
McBeal, Boston Public, The Practice,
and its current spin-off, Boston
Legal – is probably the most
prolific and successful
writer/producer now working in
television.
Coupled
with the fact that he is married to
film star Michelle Pfeiffer,
Kelley’s talent makes him one of the
most influential people in the
entertainment world.
But
apparently even Kelley’s power pales
before the might of Disney and the
MausHaus.
Case
in point: the next episode of Boston
Legal, to be broadcast Sunday
March 13 on the Disney-owned ABC
network.
I
have acquired both the original
and the revised script for this
episode from a source who prefers to
remain anonymous.
The
original penned by Kelley focused in
large measure on Fox News and its
loofah-loving star Bill
O’Reilly.
The
script also featured substantial
excerpts from the independent film Outfoxed,
which documents how the allegedly
“fair and balanced” cable channel
acts as a propaganda arm for the
Republican Party and other
conservative interest groups.
But
the final script – the one that was
actually shot for the show that will
appear on Sunday – has been
thoroughly scrubbed on orders from top
ABC network executives, and all
mention of Fox News and O’Reilly has
been sent down the Memory Hole.
Why
was the original script, which
ironically centered on issues of free
speech, censored?
Kelley
won’t say why the changes were made
– and no one at his production
company, his producing partner 20th
Century Fox, ABC or even Fox News is
talking.
But
a comparison of the original script
and the censored script speaks for
itself.
In
the original, Chi McBride (principal
of the high school featured in
Kelley’s previous hit Boston
Public) installs a “Fox
Blocker” on every television set in
his school, on the entirely reasonable
grounds that what appears on Fox News
is not news but in fact “hate
speech.”
One
of his students, Stuart Milch,
believes McBride’s decision to be
censorship, and takes his case to the
attorneys of Boston Legal.
Here’s
a taste of what millions of viewers
will now miss next Sunday:
Stuart:
“It’s called a Fox Blocker. Sold
off the internet. You attach it to
the coaxial cable on your television
and it basically blocks out all Fox
News transmissions… My high school
principal attached these liberal,
left-wing devices to all the
televisions in the building.
Meanwhile, the kids are free to
watch CBS, CNN, NBC, even ABC, But
not Fox. It’s censorship.”
It’s
called censorship, all right – just
not on Boston Legal
anymore.
Here’s
what the final, scrubbed-and-censored
script says instead:
Stuart:
“It’s called a news blocker.
Sold off the internet. You attach it
to the coaxial cable on your
television and it basically blocks
out news transmission…. My high
school principal attached these
devices to all the televisions in
the building. The problem is…
turns out it only blocks out one
network, the most fair and balanced
one. All the others, kids can
watch.”
Here’s
another example, this time of an
interchange between two Boston
Legal characters – attorney
Chelina Hall and Catherine Piper,
secretary to attorney Alan Shore
(played by Boston Legal star, James
Spader.) Again, original script first:
Chelina:
If you had to watch the news, Mrs.
Piper, which network would you go
to?
Catherine
(simply): Fox, of course.
Chelina:
Can you tell us why?
Catherine:
Well. For starters, we’re winning
the war on Fox. The economy’s
better there. And Brit Hume.
Sometimes I close my eyes and…go
to him.
And
now, the censored version:
Chelina:
If you had to watch the news, Mrs.
Piper, which network would you go
to?
Catherine
(simply): I don’t know. I’d
probably seek out the station where
we’re most likely to be winning
the war. Where I can find a better
economy. Maybe some weapons of mass
destruction.
And
so it continues, page after expurgated
page. No Fox. No Bill O’Reilly. No
Brit Hume. … And no free speech?
No
way to know – because no one will
speak, not even the articulate,
prolific and powerful Mr. Kelley.
Speaking
of free speech, there’s another,
related issue to consider as well –
the unexplained fact that Robert
Greenwald, creator of the Outfoxed
documentary (which curiously is still
excerpted and mentioned by name in
Sunday’s episode) was unable to
purchase time on the ABC network to
advertise his film.
According
to Greenwald’s distributor Gary
Baddeley, a representative of the
Broadcast Standards and Practices
Department at ABC named Joel Resnicow
indicated that ABC would not accept an
ad for Outfoxed to run adjacent
to Boston Legal, “although he
was reluctant to come out and say so
directly, I suspect for political
reasons,” says Baddeley.
“I
really pushed him hard to say what we
would have to do to edit the ad to
make it acceptable and he said he
‘can’t think of anything,’”
Baddeley says.
“He
also said that ‘it seems like there
are insurmountable issues’ and [he]
‘wouldn’t want us to invest
time’ in re-editing.
So
although he wouldn’t actually say
‘we will not approve an ad for this
film no matter what’ - that is the
practical effect of what he is
saying.
The
door has been closed in our face.”
In
keeping with the overall vow of
silence accompanying the Boston
Legal “free speech” episode,
neither Joel Resnicow nor indeed
anyone at ABC’s Broadcast Standards
and Practices Department was willing
to comment.
When
pressed for an explanation of why the
ad was refused, ABC’s media
relations rep Susan Sewell said only
“No comment.”
The
non-answer answer was the same even
when she was asked for an explanation
– or indeed any articulation
whatsoever – of ABC’s “Broadcast
Standards and Practices.”
And
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes –
usually good for at least a quip, if
not an actual quote – also declined
comment.
To
see the ad that ABC censored, click
here.
And
while you’re at it, why not ask
David E. Kelley what pressure was
brought to bear on him to censor an
episode of his series – one
supposedly devoted to the issue of
free speech.
The
telephone number for David E. Kelley
Productions is 650.853.9100.
In
the interest of free speech, maybe
he’ll even talk to you.
RoryOConnor@MaximsNews.com
Rory
O'Connor is
a documentary filmmaker and journalist. He
is also president and co-founder of the
international media firm Globalvision,
Inc, and The Global Center, an
affiliated non-profit educational
foundation.
He
has directed, written and/or produced
numerous films and television programs,
and served as an executive in charge of
three weekly television series, South
Africa Now, and Rights &
Wrongs: Human Rights Television
(PBS), and Children First (ABC).
His
broadcast and film work has been honored
with a George Polk Award, a Writer's
Guild Award, two Emmys, an Iris,
a Cine Gold Eagle, and many other
awards.
O'Connor's
most recent films examine the effects of
globalization and of "information
poverty" around the world, economic
reforms and human rights in China, and the
origins of ethnic cleansing in
Yugoslavia.
He
also oversees two Internet sites, the
not-for-profit MediaChannel.org,
and the Globalvision News Network (GVNEWS.NET),
an international wire service distributing
thousands of articles daily from hundreds
of professional news organizations around
the world.
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