File this under "Mad As Hell And Not Going To Take It Anymore". In a rare and much needed moment of indignation and disgust, MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski apologized to viewers for the lead story on a recent edition (June 27, 2007) of the Morning Joe show, which concerned a certain perpetually vacuous/intelligence deficient brand-name hotel chain heiress being released from a well-deserved jail sentence (incurred by her own terminal stupidity of course) for DUI. Thank God she didn't stop at the apology!
After this, even though goaded by her colleagues Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist, she stood her ground and then pulled out a Bic lighter, clearly set on burning the offending script on worldwide TV, much to the amazement and horror of those in studio. Even though she didn't set fire to the script, she just happened to have a rather conveniently placed shredder in full camera view and put it to use. Was the issue this certain brainless hotel chain heiress. Not really. the deeper issue was passing off vacuous BS and inconsequential puffery as actual news. Mika deserves a medal for saying NO MORE in such a public, fierce and very real way (it was NOT staged!). She got lots of emails and the like applauding her public outrage. I would hope this serves as a much need slap in the face and wake up call to television news for its pointed vacuousness, lack of ethics, objectivity, principles and substance.
Click HERE to see the actual event.
Click HERE to see a discussion after the event between Mika and Willie Geist
A USA TODAY commentary
And TWO Recommended Movies To Watch Along These Lines:
NETWORK: Paddy Chayefsky's brilliant 1976 biting satire of the sorry state of TV news where style triumphs over substance, and the network newsman's rallying cry and principle of "Im Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore".
BROADCAST NEWS: A funny and biting look at the struggles behind the scenes of a TV news operation as the producer (played by Holly Hunter) tries her darndest to teach a charismatic but EXTREMELY vacuous pretty-boy (played by William Hurt) how to be a real newsman, and the trevails of a REAL reporter (played by Albert Brooks) who while a brilliant journalist just didn't have the screen presence to put it across.
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