Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Tune into local morning TV while dressing the kids for school and you'll be treated to any number of sexual images and innuendos delivered by a crew of mostly young, gorgeous and ostensibly available women delivering all the weather, traffic and "news" about Octomom, Jon & Kate, Michael Jackson and whatever other salacious gossip that the TMZ.com Web site digs up overnight.
Even though KTLA, Channel 5, is owned by the LA Times, it seems its news department sometimes wouldn't know what to do without TMZ, which is perhaps best known for publishing stories online about celebrities at their very worst — sometimes in death, sometimes in various stages of trouble, drunkenness, undress or combinations of the three. ( If only Harvey Levin's pit bulls at TMZ would devote as much energy to shaping up our political systems, but that's another story. )
Much the same situation is true at Channel 11, KTTV ( which later in the evening actually broadcasts the TV version of TMZ ), where reporters and news crews are being let go, but morning viewers still get to hear hours of banter between two potty-mouthed "reporters" playing some sort of Freudian good sister-bad sister game with an aging white on-air father-figure partner who doesn't seem to want to get in their pants as much as just have them shut up at the appropriate moments — which they just can't seem to do.
Funny and entertaining? Sometimes. Obnoxious, degrading, exploitive, demeaning? More often than not.
Yet, it is these very paragons of virtue, these captains of media morality, who have decided that airing a commercial urging our leaders to stop being hypocrites, legalize marijuana use, tax its use and in the process help California close its $23 billion budget gap, is, as one channel exec said, "sending the wrong message."
What!? Just who are the real hypocrites here?
Although much of the projected $1.3 billion in tax revenue expected from the legalization of marijuana would surely be generated from Greater Los Angeles, only one area TV station had the courage to run the ad extolling the common-sense fiscal benefits of legalizing weed.
Featuring a perfectly average looking, conservatively dressed woman who says she smokes pot and would happily pay taxes to get it legally — and help bail the state out of its current fiscal crisis by raising enough money to continue salaries for teachers, librarians, firefighters and police officers — the spot started airing on KCBS-TV last Saturday, according to Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project, whose foundation sponsored the ad.
But even if KCBS was a little slow in coming to the party, at least they showed up. In the LA media market, Mirken wrote in an email, "We had not found even one broadcast outlet willing to air the spot, which was turned down by KABC, KTTV, KTLA and KCOP. As I write this," Mirken continued, "KNBC still has not given us a decision." And as of this writing, still hasn't.
Mirken said that in sharp contrast to the Southland, the commercial aired widely on broadcast stations in San Francisco and Sacramento, and on cable across much of the state.
Since taking office in January, President Obama, who supports decriminalization of pot but not its outright legalization, has called off federal investigations into use and sale of marijuana for medical purposes. California is one of 13 states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and more than 400 dispensaries operate just within Los Angeles city limits. Anyone with a prescription can get it at below street prices, and people are now smoking it in public and eating it for lunch in the form of brownies, cookies and other baked goods.
Arguing that marijuana represents an untaxed $14 billion-a-year industry in California, San Francisco Assembly Democrat Tom Ammiano has proposed the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, AB390, which would allow pot use for recreational purposes for anyone 21 and older.
Betty Yee, chair of the state Board of Equalization, earlier this year told the San Francisco Chronicle that an analysis of the measure found the state could collect $1.3 billion a year in tax revenues if retail sales of marijuana were legal.
We thought this was a very straightforward message," Mirken said of the ad. "We certainly didn't think anything like this would happen." In fairness, KTLA still tackles tough spot news stories and does a great job in the field. But, with all the trivialization of important matters, the absence of standards for on-air behavior, the ongoing exploitation of women, the ceaseless pandering to questionable sponsors and the general lack of consistency and fairness, fear of people thinking a station might support pot use should be the least of any TV executive's worries about sending the wrong message.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Pasadena Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Southland Publishing
Contact: kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com
Website: Pasadena Weekly - Front Page
Author: Kevin Uhrich
Even though KTLA, Channel 5, is owned by the LA Times, it seems its news department sometimes wouldn't know what to do without TMZ, which is perhaps best known for publishing stories online about celebrities at their very worst — sometimes in death, sometimes in various stages of trouble, drunkenness, undress or combinations of the three. ( If only Harvey Levin's pit bulls at TMZ would devote as much energy to shaping up our political systems, but that's another story. )
Much the same situation is true at Channel 11, KTTV ( which later in the evening actually broadcasts the TV version of TMZ ), where reporters and news crews are being let go, but morning viewers still get to hear hours of banter between two potty-mouthed "reporters" playing some sort of Freudian good sister-bad sister game with an aging white on-air father-figure partner who doesn't seem to want to get in their pants as much as just have them shut up at the appropriate moments — which they just can't seem to do.
Funny and entertaining? Sometimes. Obnoxious, degrading, exploitive, demeaning? More often than not.
Yet, it is these very paragons of virtue, these captains of media morality, who have decided that airing a commercial urging our leaders to stop being hypocrites, legalize marijuana use, tax its use and in the process help California close its $23 billion budget gap, is, as one channel exec said, "sending the wrong message."
What!? Just who are the real hypocrites here?
Although much of the projected $1.3 billion in tax revenue expected from the legalization of marijuana would surely be generated from Greater Los Angeles, only one area TV station had the courage to run the ad extolling the common-sense fiscal benefits of legalizing weed.
Featuring a perfectly average looking, conservatively dressed woman who says she smokes pot and would happily pay taxes to get it legally — and help bail the state out of its current fiscal crisis by raising enough money to continue salaries for teachers, librarians, firefighters and police officers — the spot started airing on KCBS-TV last Saturday, according to Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project, whose foundation sponsored the ad.
But even if KCBS was a little slow in coming to the party, at least they showed up. In the LA media market, Mirken wrote in an email, "We had not found even one broadcast outlet willing to air the spot, which was turned down by KABC, KTTV, KTLA and KCOP. As I write this," Mirken continued, "KNBC still has not given us a decision." And as of this writing, still hasn't.
Mirken said that in sharp contrast to the Southland, the commercial aired widely on broadcast stations in San Francisco and Sacramento, and on cable across much of the state.
Since taking office in January, President Obama, who supports decriminalization of pot but not its outright legalization, has called off federal investigations into use and sale of marijuana for medical purposes. California is one of 13 states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and more than 400 dispensaries operate just within Los Angeles city limits. Anyone with a prescription can get it at below street prices, and people are now smoking it in public and eating it for lunch in the form of brownies, cookies and other baked goods.
Arguing that marijuana represents an untaxed $14 billion-a-year industry in California, San Francisco Assembly Democrat Tom Ammiano has proposed the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, AB390, which would allow pot use for recreational purposes for anyone 21 and older.
Betty Yee, chair of the state Board of Equalization, earlier this year told the San Francisco Chronicle that an analysis of the measure found the state could collect $1.3 billion a year in tax revenues if retail sales of marijuana were legal.
We thought this was a very straightforward message," Mirken said of the ad. "We certainly didn't think anything like this would happen." In fairness, KTLA still tackles tough spot news stories and does a great job in the field. But, with all the trivialization of important matters, the absence of standards for on-air behavior, the ongoing exploitation of women, the ceaseless pandering to questionable sponsors and the general lack of consistency and fairness, fear of people thinking a station might support pot use should be the least of any TV executive's worries about sending the wrong message.
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Pasadena Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Southland Publishing
Contact: kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com
Website: Pasadena Weekly - Front Page
Author: Kevin Uhrich
