Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00311)

netemara888 wrote:
> Now add to that I just heard Martin Sheen has been asked to NOT 
> return as the president on The West Wing. Has anyone else heard this? 
> It is said to have come from the highest levels of the network 
> because they don't like his activism and anti-war talk. 
I don't think you understand. In the United States, the media is owned 
by private interests, who CAN fire people based on their political 
views, if those views can be shown to interfere with their business. 
Now, if the government, or any person in government, blackmails the 
network, that is another thing entirely. Clinton did that sort of thing 
routinely when he was President. However, seeing that there was a 
movement to boycott anything involved with Martin Sheen (started by Rush 
Limbaugh, a private citizen), and a massive letter-writing campaign 
ensued. A similar thing happened to religious bigot Laura Schlessinger, 
except that this time the letter writing campaign came from the left 
(and the fact that the show was horrible may have had SOMETHING to do 
with it, as well).

Bart Lidofsky