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CNN Live Sunday

Is CBS Pulling Of Reagan Miniseries Right Wing Bullying?

Aired November 09, 2003 - 16:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: A miniseries on the Reagans is off the CBS network screen, but not off its critics' radar screen. CBS riled conservatives with plans to air the docudrama and liberals for canceling it. The miniseries is scheduled to air on Showtime.
Joining us are two popular radio talk show hosts, Martha Zoller of WDUN in Atlanta. And in Chicago, Nancy Skinner, host of the syndicated Good Day USA. thank you for joining us.

MARTHA ZOLLER, WDUN RADIO: Thank you.

NANCY SKINNER, "GOOD DAY USA": You bet.

ARENA: All right, Martha, why don't we start with you? Is this a good move by CBS?

ZOLLER: I think this is all about dollars and cents. They had to have sponsors, clearly. There was an outcry. And there were three things wrong with this movie. It was based on a book that had a lot of inaccuracies in it. It also played and preyed on a man America still loves and is suffering from a very serious disease, and I think that's really what ultimately people were outraged about.

AREAN: Nancy, Martha says that there was outrage. Outrage from who? Who has seen this miniseries?

SKINNER: That's what's so funny. Nobody has seen the screenplay. It was based on a couple of excerpts. And you know, the irony here is that we just fought to liberate Iraq so they would have freedoms, freedoms of press and speech, and what we're doing now is we're saying the ruling party, the Republican party has to approve the script of a fictional drama about a public figure before it can be aired.

The right wing, Kelli, in this country is out of control. Protesters are being arrested. Bush protesters. They have to stay miles away in a free speech zone. Now we are -- we're censoring television programs and reports, scientific reports on global warming. The public is not getting the truth about all this. And that is the worst thing for democracy.

ZOLLER: But this movie...

ARENA: Martha, you know, CBS said that it ordered a love story and that that's not at all what it got. I mean, doesn't a company have the right to buy what it wants? ZOLLER: Well, freedom of expression clearly does not mean that you get to have it on a network where 25 to 50 million people are going to watch it. They were able to make the movie. And yes, if it was not what the doctor ordered, so to speak, then they were able -- it was okay to cancel it.

But people like the media research council have been blamed and the right wing nuts. Let me tell you something. Right wing folks rail on things on television all the time. There have been left-wing folks that have railed on television about things all the time. But when they get canceled, it's because of one reason -- they couldn't get sponsors. And that's the bottom line.

ARENA: But do we have to assume that there's a certain knowledge that the audience has going in? This is, after all, television. I don't think there's anybody out there who would take this as a completely factual account. I mean, isn't that really the essence here of what we're talking about?

ZOLLER: Well, but you and I and nancy live in a world where we get up every day, we follow the news. There's an alarming number of people that use the monologue of the continuity and David Letterman as being their main source of news.

I would have been fine with the movie being shown as long as they said this was not a true story, because the book it was based on really had a lot of inaccuracies in it and they really could have done themselves a service but maybe getting at least one disgruntled reagan appointee to participate in the movie. But they didn't even get anybody from the reagan administration to participate.

SKINNER: But martha, for eight years Bill Clinton, people on television, -- talk show hosts on radio and TV, so demonized Bill Clinton and we didn't have disclaimers running across the bottom of the screen saying this was not a factual opinion or this was the opinion -- I mean, these are public figures, and...

ZOLLER: I think -- and Nancy, I think the bigger part of it is it is still really unseemly to make a movie about this about someone who's suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This really flattens out the picture, so to speak, where even people who didn't like him, even people who didn't vote for him said you know what, this is going too far. They didn't cancel this because of the media research council.

SKINNER: If they had waited until after he passed away, then it would have been in poor taste. Is the rule here that we can't make any movies about anybody -- we're all going to die, okay?

ZOLLER: It should be true.

SKINNER: Well, why? it's a drama. It was fiction. It was a miniseries. If you don't like it, Martha, turn the station. This is America. And we start censoring these things, it's so dangerous. We need the -- the answer to odious speech is more odious speech. If you don't like it, then don't watch it. But stop censoring what --

ARENA: It will air on Showtime.

ZOLLER: I think it's fine if it airs on showtime. That is a more limited audience...

SKINNER: How is that different?

ZOLLER: Look, I never had a problem personally with it being aired. However, I do think the people have spoken. And I believe in the people. The people have said they didn't want to see this on CBS, which is a network that celebrated 75 years...

SKINNER: Which people?

ZOLLER: The people look at -- a lot of people. Obviously, enough people that CBS thought they should take it off. Because as you recall, nancy, first they said we'll reedit it, and then they said what kelli just pointed out as far as it not being what they ordered.

SKINNER: You know what, but it's thugish tactics, martha, by the right wing. They banged on the doors at Miami Dade to stop the counting of votes...

ZOLLER: And they tried to get Laura Schlesinger -- and you know what, it was terrible when this happened. It's terrible when Laura Schlesinger was kicked off the air for nothing. It was terrible when Anita Bryant couldn't work anymore. There are conservatives and liberals. This was a victory for people. And if you don't want to watch something, sure, you can turn the channel. But you can also say hey, I'm not going to buy the products that you advertise. And that's the power. We have the power, the vote and the dollar.

SKINNER: The difference is the Republican party stepped in. Ed Gillespie of the RNC stepped in. A political party stepped in to weigh in on this. And that is when...

ZOLLER: But they weigh in on things every day and so does Terri McAuliffe.

SKINNER: Teri McAuliffe does not write the executives of the network demanding that they have access to the scripts and that kind of access. It just doesn't happen in America. Why don't you just let the information flow? Democracy is so important. Let the ideas out there. Let the American public decide if they want to watch a movie about Reagan or not. We don't really need the right wing telling us what we can and cannot watch on television.

ZOLLER: Well, then you can watch it on Showtime.

ARENA: I was going to say that we'll all watch it on Showtime and see what we all think about it. But you know what, ladies, we are out of time. I'd like to join you both. Martha Zoller. Nancy Skinner. Have a great day, both of you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 9, 2003 - 16:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: A miniseries on the Reagans is off the CBS network screen, but not off its critics' radar screen. CBS riled conservatives with plans to air the docudrama and liberals for canceling it. The miniseries is scheduled to air on Showtime.
Joining us are two popular radio talk show hosts, Martha Zoller of WDUN in Atlanta. And in Chicago, Nancy Skinner, host of the syndicated Good Day USA. thank you for joining us.

MARTHA ZOLLER, WDUN RADIO: Thank you.

NANCY SKINNER, "GOOD DAY USA": You bet.

ARENA: All right, Martha, why don't we start with you? Is this a good move by CBS?

ZOLLER: I think this is all about dollars and cents. They had to have sponsors, clearly. There was an outcry. And there were three things wrong with this movie. It was based on a book that had a lot of inaccuracies in it. It also played and preyed on a man America still loves and is suffering from a very serious disease, and I think that's really what ultimately people were outraged about.

AREAN: Nancy, Martha says that there was outrage. Outrage from who? Who has seen this miniseries?

SKINNER: That's what's so funny. Nobody has seen the screenplay. It was based on a couple of excerpts. And you know, the irony here is that we just fought to liberate Iraq so they would have freedoms, freedoms of press and speech, and what we're doing now is we're saying the ruling party, the Republican party has to approve the script of a fictional drama about a public figure before it can be aired.

The right wing, Kelli, in this country is out of control. Protesters are being arrested. Bush protesters. They have to stay miles away in a free speech zone. Now we are -- we're censoring television programs and reports, scientific reports on global warming. The public is not getting the truth about all this. And that is the worst thing for democracy.

ZOLLER: But this movie...

ARENA: Martha, you know, CBS said that it ordered a love story and that that's not at all what it got. I mean, doesn't a company have the right to buy what it wants? ZOLLER: Well, freedom of expression clearly does not mean that you get to have it on a network where 25 to 50 million people are going to watch it. They were able to make the movie. And yes, if it was not what the doctor ordered, so to speak, then they were able -- it was okay to cancel it.

But people like the media research council have been blamed and the right wing nuts. Let me tell you something. Right wing folks rail on things on television all the time. There have been left-wing folks that have railed on television about things all the time. But when they get canceled, it's because of one reason -- they couldn't get sponsors. And that's the bottom line.

ARENA: But do we have to assume that there's a certain knowledge that the audience has going in? This is, after all, television. I don't think there's anybody out there who would take this as a completely factual account. I mean, isn't that really the essence here of what we're talking about?

ZOLLER: Well, but you and I and nancy live in a world where we get up every day, we follow the news. There's an alarming number of people that use the monologue of the continuity and David Letterman as being their main source of news.

I would have been fine with the movie being shown as long as they said this was not a true story, because the book it was based on really had a lot of inaccuracies in it and they really could have done themselves a service but maybe getting at least one disgruntled reagan appointee to participate in the movie. But they didn't even get anybody from the reagan administration to participate.

SKINNER: But martha, for eight years Bill Clinton, people on television, -- talk show hosts on radio and TV, so demonized Bill Clinton and we didn't have disclaimers running across the bottom of the screen saying this was not a factual opinion or this was the opinion -- I mean, these are public figures, and...

ZOLLER: I think -- and Nancy, I think the bigger part of it is it is still really unseemly to make a movie about this about someone who's suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This really flattens out the picture, so to speak, where even people who didn't like him, even people who didn't vote for him said you know what, this is going too far. They didn't cancel this because of the media research council.

SKINNER: If they had waited until after he passed away, then it would have been in poor taste. Is the rule here that we can't make any movies about anybody -- we're all going to die, okay?

ZOLLER: It should be true.

SKINNER: Well, why? it's a drama. It was fiction. It was a miniseries. If you don't like it, Martha, turn the station. This is America. And we start censoring these things, it's so dangerous. We need the -- the answer to odious speech is more odious speech. If you don't like it, then don't watch it. But stop censoring what --

ARENA: It will air on Showtime.

ZOLLER: I think it's fine if it airs on showtime. That is a more limited audience...

SKINNER: How is that different?

ZOLLER: Look, I never had a problem personally with it being aired. However, I do think the people have spoken. And I believe in the people. The people have said they didn't want to see this on CBS, which is a network that celebrated 75 years...

SKINNER: Which people?

ZOLLER: The people look at -- a lot of people. Obviously, enough people that CBS thought they should take it off. Because as you recall, nancy, first they said we'll reedit it, and then they said what kelli just pointed out as far as it not being what they ordered.

SKINNER: You know what, but it's thugish tactics, martha, by the right wing. They banged on the doors at Miami Dade to stop the counting of votes...

ZOLLER: And they tried to get Laura Schlesinger -- and you know what, it was terrible when this happened. It's terrible when Laura Schlesinger was kicked off the air for nothing. It was terrible when Anita Bryant couldn't work anymore. There are conservatives and liberals. This was a victory for people. And if you don't want to watch something, sure, you can turn the channel. But you can also say hey, I'm not going to buy the products that you advertise. And that's the power. We have the power, the vote and the dollar.

SKINNER: The difference is the Republican party stepped in. Ed Gillespie of the RNC stepped in. A political party stepped in to weigh in on this. And that is when...

ZOLLER: But they weigh in on things every day and so does Terri McAuliffe.

SKINNER: Teri McAuliffe does not write the executives of the network demanding that they have access to the scripts and that kind of access. It just doesn't happen in America. Why don't you just let the information flow? Democracy is so important. Let the ideas out there. Let the American public decide if they want to watch a movie about Reagan or not. We don't really need the right wing telling us what we can and cannot watch on television.

ZOLLER: Well, then you can watch it on Showtime.

ARENA: I was going to say that we'll all watch it on Showtime and see what we all think about it. But you know what, ladies, we are out of time. I'd like to join you both. Martha Zoller. Nancy Skinner. Have a great day, both of you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com