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<nettime> The Last P.U.-litzer Prizes Of The 20th Century


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The Last P.U.-litzer Prizes Of The 20th Century
By Norman Solomon

P.U.-litzer Prizes recognize some of America's stinkiest media
performances.  Each year, I work with Jeff Cohen of the media watch group
FAIR to sift through hundreds of deserving entries. The competition is
always fierce. But only an elite few can walk off with a P.U.-litzer. 

Here are the eighth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for the foulest media
achievements of 1999: 

--PRE-PRE-FEMINIST PRIZE -- CNN's "Larry King Live"  When Larry King
hosted a segment about potential senatorial candidate Hillary Clinton on
June 1, the discussion took political analysis to new depths. One panelist
commented: "She has a bad figure. She's bottom heavy and her legs are
short." Another expert added: "I don't know one good thing about her.
She's got fat -- her legs are too short, her arms are too long.... If your
legs are too short, how do you evolve?" The panelists did not find time to
discuss the anatomy of Clinton's likely GOP opponent, Rudolph Giuliani. 

--ALL THINGS ETHNOCENTRIC PRIZE -- NPR's Linda Wertheimer On Dec. 13, when
"All Things Considered" host Wertheimer interviewed a Time magazine
reporter about videos made by the two teens who massacred people at
Columbine High, she expressed amazement: "You say in the article in Time
that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were steeped in violence and drained of
mercy. How could that be? I mean, they were middle-class children that had
lots of advantages; they had nice parents." 

--"INOFFENSIVE INTEGRITY" AWARD -- Viacom Chair Sumner Redstone Speaking
in October at a celebration in China, where Redstone hopes to expand
business operations, the media mogul cautioned international news outlets
about irritating sensitive governments.. "Journalistic integrity must
prevail in the final analysis," he advised. "But that doesn't mean that
journalistic integrity should be exercised in a way that is unnecessarily
offensive to the countries in which you operate." Weeks before this
warning, Viacom announced plans to acquire CBS, thereby becoming the boss
of CBS News employees. 

--MONOPOLIZING THE NEWS AWARD -- The New York Times The day after Viacom
-- the movie, cable TV and publishing powerhouse -- announced plans to
purchase CBS and become the third-largest media conglomerate in the world,
the New York Times devoted seven articles to the proposed takeover. But
there was no space to quote a single critic about the threat to consumers
or to democracy posed by this concentration of media power. There was
room, however, for quotes from various upbeat Wall Street analysts, and
for a reporter's reference to the bygone era of the 1970s: "In those
quaint days, it bothered people when companies owned too many media
properties." 

--PLAY-IT-AGAIN SPIN AWARD -- National TV News On April 5, network TV
convened panels of experts to discuss the war on Yugoslavia. Viewers could
see hawkish Sen. John McCain at 9 p.m. on CNN's "Larry King Live," at 10
p.m. on Fox News Channel, at 11 p.m. on PBS's Charlie Rose show and at
11:30 p.m. on ABC's "Nightline" with Ted Koppel.  The senator's
whereabouts between 10:30 and 11 p.m. could not be determined. 


--"ANCHORS AWAY TO WAR" PRIZE -- Fox News Channel and PBS "NewsHour With
Jim Lehrer" (Tie)  On March 24, about an hour before the first NATO
missiles struck Yugoslavia, viewers heard a Fox News Channel anchor make
an understandable slip: "Let's bring in our Pentagon spokesman -- excuse
me, our Pentagon correspondent." A more scripted demonstration of
journalistic independence came later in the war, when "NewsHour" anchor
Margaret Warner introduced a panel: "We get four perspectives now on
NATO's mission and options from four retired military leaders." 

--PROUD TO CENSOR AWARD -- Seattle TV Station KOMO Days before the World
Trade Organization summit in Seattle, the news director at the city's ABC
television affiliate released a statement that promised to manage the news
appropriately: "KOMO 4 News supports coverage of the critical issues
raised by the conference, including legal protests, but will not devote
coverage to irresponsible or illegal activities of disruptive groups. KOMO
4 News is taking a stand on not giving some protest groups the publicity
they want." 

--TAKE-IT-ON-FAITH AWARD -- Michael Kinsley In a Time magazine essay,
Kinsley -- who works for two of the planet's most powerful communications
firms, Microsoft and Time Warner -- sought to persuade readers that the
World Trade Organization is a fine institution, despite protests.
Kinsley's Dec. 13 piece ended with these words: "But really, the WTO is
OK. Do the math. Or take it on faith." 

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Norman Solomon's latest book is "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media."


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