IT ISN'T SURPRISING ACTOR-ACTIVIST TIM Robbins believes the TV and radio newscast world is like two thin drinking straws -- a place filled with maybe just two different points of view. He isn't wrong.
In a speech filled with sarcasm, wit, and plenty of what broadcasters love best -- profanity -- at the opening of the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Robbins offered some keen and entertaining commentary on news and current events.
"First, erase all diversity," he said. "You only need two opinions. Second, stay focused on sex scandals. We don't want any kind of reporting outside the sound bite. I don't know about you, but show me a drunk starlet getting out of a car with no panties on, and I think the world is a better place. Third, more distraction. The economy sucks? Chaos in Iraq? It is a moral responsibility to distract."
All good. Robbins also warned that TV's "pornographic obsession with celebrity culture" hurts meaningful civil discourse. He also went on to flesh out other rough areas where commerce meets culture and gross rating points. Gross.
Then in one of several serious moments, he said: "You, as broadcasters, have the power to turn the nation away from cynicism. Or you can hide behind the old adage 'I'm just a businessman, just providing what the audience wants."'
Whatever spins from Robbins' remarks, there should be no complaints. Someone at the NAB wanted to shake up broadcasters' thinking -- and it worked.
Robbins' presentation reminds us of other entertaining newscasts he didn't refer to -- what Comedy Central's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart," MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" or Current TV brings to more mainstream network news or the angry Fox News world.
Robbins left this message: "Now is the time to recognize that you are not just businessmen, but guardians of the human spirit with a responsibility to the health of the nation."
That's always the rub -- and a question for all FCC-controlled and advertising-dependent broadcasters: how to make history -- and profit from it at the same time?
