I can’t say I’m surprised that the leadership of our ruling political party decided to flex its muscle by forcing one of the three major television networks to cancel a program critical of one of the party icons, but I am surprised, a little, at how little outcry resulted.
The headline in USA Today was astonishing: “CBS Drops ‘Reagans’ Amid Furor over Bias” Right. The issue was “bias,” not “suppression of politically incorrect thought.” The RNC couldn’t have said it better.
Personally, I rather disapprove of docu-drama, because the viewer has no way to know what’s documented and what isn’t. But docu-drama itself is no longer controversial: “The Reagans” was cancelled not for making stuff up, but for making up stuff powerful people didn’t want the voters exposed to. Scary.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman