Don’t Self-Censor The News
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I had an interesting discussion today with a friend about news and how American news censors itself. As soon as I heard Sen. Levin quote the Goldman Sachs e-mail about the “shitty deal”, I sighed. The mainstream media would bleep out those words. Why? Because the mainstream press still acts as if this is the Victorian era and we’ll all have to find our fainting couches if someone says a dirty word.
The words from these e-mails were a key element in why Goldman was on Capitol Hill in the first place. They were pumping and dumping “shitty deals” and knew it, and in my opinion if you’re in the news business you should be reporting what was said and not “s***** deals” or calling it “vulgar”. Thankfully someone just reported what happened: Keith Olbermann.
It’s 2010, there’s no need for the news to censor itself. Tell us what happened. Naughty words included.
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
They say “shit” on FX every night. Nip/Tuck, Justified, Rescue Me all use “shit” on a regular basis.
You obviously don’t have children.
There’s no need for that kind of language on TV. Especially news programs.
A simple, brief warning before the segment would do just fine. But yeah, lighten up, Francis.
Yes, because news should never show us things that upset us. Think of the children! Jesus H.
It’s 2010, there’s no need for the news to censor itself.
Self-censor? Anybody here remember the FCC? Fines for Howard Stern? Anyone?
“because news should never show us things that upset us”
That’s not what I said and you know it.
It is completely unncessary to use the word “shitty” during a news segement watched by children and adults alike. Again, you obiviously don’t have children and don’t give a crap about what young children are exposed to. You think that the world revolves around twenty-somethings banging away at a keyboard in their basement. It doesn’t and you should know better. Everyone knows what words are beeped out. There’s only 10 words or so that the FCC bans. If anyone is curious enough to know what one word out of ten was used, they can easily jump on a computer and find out.
You obviously don’t have children.
And we should all have to live in a world governed by the sensibilities of four-year-olds and their hyper-sensitive parents.
Freakin’ breeder.
A simple, brief warning before the segment would do just fine.
Indeed:
…………………………………….
Yeah, it’s cool when elementary school-aged kids run around dropping expletives at the drop of a hat. Dumbass.
My frickin’ off-spring will pay for your social security and medicare. So a little respect is in order. Ingrate.
Funny, that describes many of my schoolmates 40 years ago, and it didn’t bring civilization to a halt here in Central CA……………….
Yeah, it’s cool when elementary school-aged kids run around dropping expletives at the drop of a hat. Dumbass.
“But dad, I saw it on Olbermann!”
So there you go. What’s the motherfucking problem here?
You’re right, William. Four-year-olds saying “shit” is the end of civilization as we know it so we should just transform the entire culture into a giant episode of “Romper Room.”
Better parenting please.
Saw it on ABC. While they beeped it, they also left the audio of Levin on, so you pretty much heard what he said (seems like a common practice these days). I understand the concern, but ‘shitty’ used in this context is different from gratuitous swearing. There are a lot of things on the news young children should probably not be seeing unsupervised. Maybe this is one of those ‘teachable moment’ situations.
. They can’t say shitty but they’ll show someone’s head getting blown off. Which is more emotionally scarring to the child? And a woman’s breast cost 500,000 but FOX “tsktsk’s” soft core porn all day. Hypocrisy abounds.
So your parents were cool with you cussing like a sailor in 1st grade? No wonder you have such poor manners.
Better parenting? How about elected officials setting an example? Is that really so hard?
Better politicians please.
Please clarify for me, exactly, what harm is done to a child to hear the word “shit”? What terrible thing results from a 10-year-old hearing the word in context in a news report.
I honestly would like to know.
william: Yeah, it’s cool when elementary school-aged kids run around dropping expletives at the drop of a hat.
Not sure it’s “cool” (although believing it is is probably part of why they do it), certainly don’t agree it’s at the “drop of a hat”.
But even if it is:
a) where’s the damage?
b) whose fault is it that a child has such bad manners?
Better parenting? How about elected officials setting an example? Is that really so hard?
Better politicians please.
Ah, so you want children to be raised by politicians?
Way to pass the buck and blame others, William. Very conservative of you.
Except as I noted in the post “shitty” in this instance is not being gratuitous. It’s integral to an important story.
The media censors too much “for the children”.
Those instances were during gratuitous moments on entertainment programs, and while I disagree with those fines, if our corporate newsfolk had balls they’d challenge the FCC for their right to air it during a news program. NEWS.
Yes. When william’s children talk back to him and argue about their bedtime it’s because Katie Couric and Carl Levin didn’t raise them right.
Sorry to be the Victorian here, but I think there’s some merit in not cheapening the discourse with what is still considered coarse language. Yes, I use that language, and I get a lot worse if I haven’t been catching cards and get slaughtered like last night at the casino, but I think there’s merit in trying to keep the language more civil in some forms of discourse. The media screws up the discourse in many ways, but they can afford to hold the line on some standards, even if the standards of journalism themselves seem to have disappeared completely in so many other ways.
But it isn’t the media using those words. It’s the media, specifically news programs, reporting on what politicians said.
You really want to say that reporters aren’t allowed to report on what a politician said in public? Gee, wonder what THAT would lead to.
If you think “shit” isn’t an acceptable word for discourse then take it up with them that said it. Not with them that point out they did?
I see your point, but I don’t see where the harm was in bleeping it.
It’s not a big deal or anything to me whether they report it or not. Frankly, my biggest complaint is bleeping language in films shown on TV. In those instances, the words are a part of the artistic expression and I don’t see why they have to put a fig leaf on Michelangelo’s David, so to speak. (Try watching Scarface on TV; most of the dialogue is missing.)
In the case of the news, they edit the hell out of everything anyway. They did hours of hearings. How much of it made it into the media? Now here’s another question: do you think any media outlet, print or broadcast, showed any portion of that hearing WITHOUT Levin’s remark, bleeped or not? What does that tell you about the media and editing? What does it tell you about the significance of that bleep really?
I rest my case…mainly because this shit isn’t that big a deal.
I see your point, but I don’t see where the harm was in bleeping it.
And I honestly can’t see what harm there is in leaving it untouched. Seriously, can anyone explain to me exactly what damage is done when you hear someone use the word “shit”?
Frankly, my biggest complaint is bleeping language in films shown on TV. In those instances, the words are a part of the artistic expression
So it’d be OK to hear an actor playing a senator in a movie (say, Gary Shandling in Iron Man 2) say “shitty” but not OK to hear an actual senator say it?
I don’t go with the contention that “stick and stones break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Anyone over the age of three can tell you how much just words can hurt. But in those cases it’s the thought expressed more than the specific words chosen to express it.
So I just don’t see why children, let alone adults (and particularly adults who are watching a NEWS program presumable to find out what is actually going on in the world) need to be “protected” from any particular words.
Someone on Grey’s Anatomy swears when told they’ve got only 6 months to live? Someone on Survivor says their tired of getting “fucked over” by the other players? Fine with me. If folks don’t like it they’ll stop watching.
Never ceases to amaze me how the folks (generalization warning, but it’s still a legit observation) who complain about too much gov’t and gov’t regulation in our lives are often the very same ones who want gov’t regulation in our lives.