Jimmy the Greek makes a stupid comment about black athletes. CBS cans him. Rush makes racially insensitive comments about QB Donovan McNab. ESPN forces him to resign. But with cable tabloid news and the nonsense that goes on on the 700 Club, conventional standards of behavior and decorum, along with common sense, go out the window ...
Novak outs a CIA agent in print, yet keeps his job as a talking head on CNN. Until some two years later he utters a vulgarism, and gets suspended. On her show Nancy Grace regularly declares defendants guilty without benefit of judge, jury or the due process of a trial. Her bosses love her ratings. Rush Limbaugh lies, slimes and bullies on a daily basis to an audience of millions and rules the roost of wingnut talk radio. Now televangelist Pat Robertson has used his TV megaphone to urge the assassination of a foreign head of state (then
lied when he said he never said any such thing). So what happens? Nada. ABC Family, claiming contractual obligations, refuses to pull the wacko preacher's plug. The point? If you're a right-wing bobblehead in today's America, you can get away with anything on the air, up to and including hate speech. Unless you're blathering about something truly serious, that is. Like sports.
National Debunker