DISQUS

Jake · 1 year ago

Hey Josh! I can't comment on Leno, but its important to know that there's a definite subtext right now with Letterman and McCain. The two have actually had quite a good relationship in the past - McCain even announced his 2008 candidacy on the show. But a few weeks ago McCain essentially snubbed Letterman - called him the day of his scheduled appearance on the show and told him he couldn't make it because he had to fly to Washington immediately because of the economic crisis. He then stayed in New York for another day, and the very day he called Letterman he taped an interview with Katie Couric. So Letterman was upset (rightly so, it seems to me) and basically made McCain/Palin his central targets for the next 3 weeks. McCain appeared on Letterman this week to patch things up. So I'm not sure you can attribute Letterman's focus on McCain/Palin to some sort of bias - you have to take the events of the past month into consideration.

The complete story is here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/200...

Josh · 1 year ago

@Jake - Yo, that's kinda funny actually! Sometimes we don't think that these big name celebrities get their feelings hurt too! It's interesting too, to see how Letterman reacted to that hurt, in the weeks after McCain snubbed him!

I don't doubt that the Letterman/McCain thing has some underlying feelings attached, but at the same time, I would think that CBS has a fair amount of weight to push around as to what content Letterman has on the show too, and I'm pretty sure they didn't discourage Letterman from his jokes :-)

Kara · 1 year ago

You're right..that's why there's no late night shows based in Texas :)

Jake · 1 year ago

I seriously doubt that CBS has much say on what Letterman does at all at this point - not unless they thought something was a very serious problem. He's been around a long time, and has a significant amount of clout. So no - I doubt CBS said anything about the direction of his jokes - nor do I think you can make any kind of convincing argument that they would have said anything had he gone after Obama more than McCain.

There is often bias in the media - although again, Christians often don't want to acknowledge that the bias is on both sides. But I also think sometimes we go looking for bias where it doesn't exist.

Josh · 1 year ago

@Jake - Interesting, I'd have to mostly disagree :-) Yes, Letterman has been around a long time and yes he does come up with a lot of his material, but still, who pays the bills? Ya they may not have directly "encouraged" the direction of the jokes (although the team of writers probably did help somewhat), but at the same time I think, silence can be seen as support.

I'm not saying that I'm looking for any bias. Most anyone will agree (except for the networks of course) that the major networks tend to be biased (more towards the liberal end). There's a reason that FoxNews gets trashed on so much (at least out here). And yes, I do agree, that some in the "religious" circle like to point fingers and pick fights. Please know though, I'm not one of them :-)

All in all, despite our personal opinions the numbers in the report speak for themselves, right! But I think to a certain extent I'd also say that McCain/Palin are rather easier to poke fun at than the other side!

Thanks for the views, it's interesting to see the differences in thought!

Josh · 1 year ago

@Kara - Sometimes it really does seem like Texas is in a whole different country than Cali!