DON'T DRINK THE AUH2O:

Are there ta-ta talks at those closed-door meetings? (JOHN DOYLE, Apr. 8, 2004, Globe and Mail)

[L]ast week I read with interest about a closed-door meeting involving the American TV networks, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and some interested parties. The closed-door meeting was described in news reports -- of which there were few because the press wasn't invited -- as a summit to discuss ways of responding to growing concern about "indecent programming."

Okay, now I get it. It's all a reaction to Janet Jackson's knocker-flash at the Super Bowl. The great thing about closed-door meetings is that those on the outside can speculate wildly about what happened inside. I think it's fair to call the closed-door summit the ta-ta talkfest, the boob-brainstorming session or the knocker-kvetch fest.

Americans and the rest of the world with an appetite for American TV can only guess at what was said. It was all happening in secret. Mind you, nothing that happens behind closed doors is genuinely in response to a populist concern. Otherwise, it wouldn't be necessary to go behind closed doors.

In most news stories about the closed-door meeting, the one person quoted was the memorably named L. Brent Bozell III. He's described as president of the Parents Television Council and apparently he addressed the closed-door meeting. The thing about a memorable name is that it sticks. I knew I'd seen the name L. Brent Bozell III before. In fact he's ubiquitous. Sometimes he's representing the Parents Television Council and sometimes he's described as "president, Media Research Centre" but always, he's defending George W. Bush.

L. Brent Bozell III turns up regularly in Investor's Business Daily, a publication I read with abiding interest for its shock value. It's a window into the hell of hard-right American corporate ideas. Most recently in the publication, L. Brent Bozell III wrote an attack on the American media's coverage of events in Spain. He claimed that after downplaying Spain's support for George W. Bush's war in Iraq, the American media began overplaying it when the new Spanish government decided to withdraw its troops. Before that, L. Brent Bozell III wrote an article claming that the American media (which he calls "the Democratic-media complex") was soft on John Kerry and too hard on George W. Bush.

This L. Brent Bozell III, so often presented as a voice of reason who calls for less "indecency" on American TV, is actually a rabid Republican and an advocate of George W. Bush's policies in every area.

Something very strange is happening in the world of American network television. In the fallout from the Janet Jackson knocker shocker, there is a concerted effort to make the major networks conform to new standards in order to prevent what is loosely called "indecency." It doesn't really have much to do with women's breasts and the f-word on TV. It's about a clampdown on critics of the Bush presidency. Or so it seems. Hardly anybody knows, because it's all going on behind closed doors.

Mr. Doyle might also note that Mr. Bozell['s father]* wrote one of the most popular and influential books in North American history.

*Editor's Correction

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 12, 2004 9:23 AM