Posted on 10/30/2003 11:02:12 AM PST by mgist
Dear XXXX...
Thanks again for the article. You, of course, are welcome to your opinion, and to decide what sources of information to believe. If we did not care what viewers think, we would not have read your e-mail and responded, three times. However, we stand by our position, and if you choose to believe you should form your decsions based on the opinions of others who have not seen the program, there's little we can say.
Take care.
-----Original Message----- From: XXXXXX] Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 12:29 PM To: WFOR News4 Subject: Re: Suggestion about Management
You obviously don't take this seriously. CBS and Les Moonves are notoriously partisan, attacking a man in the last stages of his illness is disgusting and very bad karma. Maybe you have been told any press is good press. When your ratings go down and your sponsors won't touch CBS with a ten foot pole maybe then you'll get the message. Good luck.
Please see article below :http://www.opinionjournal.com/politicaldiary/?id=110004198#b1
CBS to 'BS' Viewers About Reagan
When CBS announced earlier this year it was producing a television movie on the life of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, warning flags shot up. The part of Mr. Reagan was given to none other than James Brolin, husband of Reagan-loathing Democratic diva Barbra Streisand. The producers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadon, freely acknowledged their liberal views but insisted the biography would be fair.
Now the New York Times has obtained a copy of the final script and, sure enough, the film includes several scenes that the Times calls "historically questionable."
Among the scenes depicted are a meeting in which Reagan more or less acknowledges that he was an informer for the Hollywood blacklist during the McCarthy era, a point that has never been documented. Another shows Mrs. Reagan begging her husband to help AIDS patients only to be told "They that live in sin shall die in sin."
Reagan biographer and no right-winger himself, Lou Cannon says such a portrayal is unfair: "Reagan is not intolerant."
Elizabeth Egloff, the playwright who wrote the script, admitted to the Times that there was no evidence such a conversation took place. Instead she claims "we know he ducked the issue over and over again, and we know (Nancy Reagan) was the one who got him to deal with it."
You'd think CBS would be a little more careful in its Reagan-bashing. The man who green-lighted the Reagan project, CBS Chairman Les Moonves, is already somewhat exposed on the issue of liberal bias.
He allowed himself to be seen sitting next to Hillary Clinton at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Last year, he was ridiculed by David Letterman on his own network for a four-day junket to Cuba with other media moguls. During the trip he hobnobbed with Fidel Castro and he returned with the dictator's autograph on a cigar box.
Mr. Moonves' last project also did not end well. "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" created a stir earlier this year when it drew ominous parallels between a society that allowed a Hitler to rise to power and the reaction of the Bush administration after 9/11. "It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who (sic) ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war. I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now," producer Ed Gernon told TV Guide before the biography aired.
"When an ent
ire country becomes afraid for their sovereignty, for their safety," he added, "they will embrace ideas and strategies and positions that they might not embrace otherwise." Mr. Gernon was fired from the project for tipping the movie's hand so blatantly, but the controversial elements of the script were left in.
Now that CBS' anti-Reagan bias has been revealed, the network will understandably resist calls for last-minute editing and changes in the Reagan biography. That's appropriate. Let the audience see the movie's alternate conceptualization of reality and judge for itself.
Mr. Reagan courageously opposed a 1978 anti-gay ballot initiative in California. No one who knows could imagine him condemning AIDS sufferers in the way the movie portrays him doing. Airing projects that rewrite history is just one of many reasons that the flight of audiences from network television continues apace.
-- John Fund
----- Original Message ----- From: WFOR News4 To: XXXXX Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 12:22 PM Subject: RE: Suggestion about Management
XXXXX...
Thank you for writing to CBS4 about the forthcoming mini-series THE REAGANS. This program, still in post-production, will be a four hour saga dealing with the lives of Ronald and Nancy Reagan from the time of their meeting to beyond Mr. Reagan's Presidency. There has been recent discussion in the public arena and commentary and assumptions have been made by individuals who have not seen a single frame of this film. While in any biographical drama a degree of theatrical license is unavoidable, we wish to assure you that CBS and the producers of THE REAGANS have made every attempt to be fair and accurate.
As broadcasters, it is our job to put forth programming that informs, entertains and, hopefully, stirs meaningful discourse about the events of our time in a responsible and truthful manner. We invite Americans to watch THE REAGANS and make their own personal judgment as to whether or not we have succeeded in our efforts.
Cordially,
Ray Faiola Director, CBS Audience Services
-----Original Message----- From: XXXXXX Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 8:58 AM To: news4@wfor.cbs.com Subject: Suggestion about Management
Sent by XXXXX at Oct 30, 2003 8:57 am:
My family, friends and I have deleted CBS from our channel memory due to the company's offensive programming. The slanderous attack of our former president, while he is on his deathbed, and unable to defend himself, was the last straw. Millions of Americans are outraged. I realize your local channel is not at fault, but there is no other alternative for us as consumers. When your ratings go down, please share this feedback with your headquarters so they understand how offending the American public hurts us all. It's bad business! Les Moonves can play partisan politics in his personal life all he wants, but he should not use his position to insult your viewers. Your corporate management has gone too far.
I agree with them on this. The die is cast.
Translation: They're lies.
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