Ben Shapiro, the author of the national bestsellers Brainwashed, Porn Generation, and Project President, has just written a hard-hitting expose of Hollywood, entitled Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV. From the editorial review at Amazon.com:
The inside story of how the most powerful medium of mass communication in human history has become a propaganda tool for the Left.
Primetime Propaganda is the story – told in their own words – of how television has been used over the past sixty years by Hollywood writers, producers, actors, and executives to promote their liberal ideals, to push the envelope on social and political issues, and to shape America in their own leftist image.
… According to Shapiro, television isn’t just about entertainment – it’s an attempt to convince Americans that the social, economic, and foreign policy shaped by leftism is morally righteous.
But don’t take his word for it. Shapiro interviewed more than one hundred of the industry’s biggest players, including Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H), Fred Silverman (former president of ABC Entertainment, NBC, and vice president of programming at CBS), Marta Kauffman (Friends), David Shore (House), and Mark Burnett (Survivor). Many of these insiders boast that not only is Hollywood biased against conservatives, but that many of the shows being broadcast have secret political messages. With this groundbreaking expose, readers will never watch television the same way again.
Curious? Then take a look at this report by Paul Bond from The Hollywood Reporter. I can guarantee that you will be shocked.
Ben Shapiro bases his claim that TV has become a propaganda tool for the left on 39 taped interviews that he’ll roll out piecemeal during the next three weeks. Readers can view some of these videos on Ben Shapiro’s Website here. A few highlights from Paul Bond’s report:
One video has Leonard Goldberg – who executive produces Blue Bloods for CBS and exec produced such hits as Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch a few decades ago – saying that liberalism in the TV industry is “100 percent dominant, and anyone who denies it is kidding, or not telling the truth.”
Shapiro asks if politics are a barrier to entry. “Absolutely,” Goldberg says.
MacGyver producer Vin Di Bona is blunt about his approval of a lack of political diversity in Hollywood. When Shapiro asks what he thinks of conservative critics who say everyone in Hollywood is liberal, Di Bona responds: “I think it’s probably accurate, and I’m happy about it.”
Shapiro asks producer-director Nicholas Meyer whether conservatives are discriminated against in Hollywood. “Well, I hope so,” he answers. Meyer also admits his political agenda for The Day After, a TV movie he directed for ABC that was seen by 100 million people when it aired in 1983. “My private, grandiose notion was that this movie would unseat Ronald Reagan when he ran for re-election,” Meyer says.
So what’s my point here? My point is that TV viewers have no chance of being exposed to a fair hearing for viewpoints that are anathema to people on the Left. Intelligent Design Theory is obviously one of these viewpoints, because it is deemed to be “religion-friendly.” Hence it must be brought down. And I’m sure readers can think of dozens of other viewpoints that will be unfairly ridiculed by a Left-wing media.
So here’s my question: what should we do about it? Should we attempt to reclaim television, or bypass it altogether? What do readers think?