Line Between News and Entertainment has Blurred

Summary

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Reading the Courier & Press commentary on Don Imus and his ill- advised remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team that enraged both civil rights activists and portions of the general population of the United States, I wondered how this odd-looking talk-show host/commentator became so powerful in the first place that any comment he makes is so noteworthy, and why he would jeopardize his position for a venomous, cheap joke.

Caucasian, middle-aged males who are public figures seem to never learn valuable lessons watching their brethren twist in the wind after uttering such explosive words as Imus did. He must have missed the whole Michael Richards racial incident and Mel Gibson's meltdown last July. These kinds of incendiary verbalizations by white males against African-Americans, Jews and women stretch back many years, one seeming to pay no attention to the last one's fate.

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Extract

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Line Between News and Entertainment has Blurred

I think the problem is this: Our culture has transformed news into entertainment, and when we get back what we have created ourselves, it shocks us.

Many years ago, entertainmen...

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