Remembering Liberal Media On CBS's Yanked 'Reagans' Film

It's been natural for some to link the Clintonista campaign against ABC's "The Path to 9/11" with the efforts of MRC and other groups protesting CBS's flimsy biopic on "The Reagans."  (Rich Noyes makes one obvious point of difference: Clinton is cogent enough to defend himself. In the fall of 2003, Reagan was deep into his Alzheimer's disease and dying.) Brent Bozell columns from that time are here and here. Brent still believes that if ABC corrects its docudrama if it doesn't have documentation for something being challenged, it's doing the right thing.

For anyone who needs specifics on how the liberal media reacted to the conservative protests against "The Reagans," here's a set of quotes from the November 10, 2003 edition of our Notable Quotables newsletter:

Liberal Film Disproves Liberalism?

"Under pressure from conservative groups, CBS has exiled its highest-profile sweeps project, The Reagans, to Showtime....If nothing else, this act of creative sabotage should put to rest the idea that the media are liberal."
– USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco, November 5.

CBS Feared Conservative Bullies

Jerry Bowen: "Some analysts contend the conservative pressure is part of the nation's ongoing culture war."
Martin Kaplan, USC Annenberg School: "There's a well-organized conservative movement in this country that's in charge of its version of the truth, and they swing a big bat."
Bowen: "James Brolin, who plays Reagan, wasn't talking, but his manager was."
Jeff Wald, James Brolin's manager: "And we seem to be in a very oppressive era where they can censor something before they even see it."
– CBS Evening News, November 4.

Brian Williams: "Do you believe what has happened here with this mini-series on CBS amounts to extortion?"
Media critic Michael Wolff: "Certainly capitulation...."
Williams: "So is it hyperbolic to say, you know, when we give all these speeches about freedom in the United States, you can go ahead and stretch your artistic freedom, make a movie about whatever you wish as long as it doesn't cross a certain political or societal group?"
Wolff: "Absolutely. If the group is well-organized and there is no group as well-organized as the right wing in America at this point in time, you're going to be in big trouble."
– CNBC’s The News with Brian Williams, November 4.

Creating a "Soviet-Style Chill"

"His [Ronald Reagan’s] supporters credit him with forcing down the Iron Curtain, so it is odd that some of them have helped create the Soviet-style chill embedded in the idea that we, as a nation, will not allow critical portrayals of one of our own recent leaders."
– Editorial in the November 5 New York Times.

Reagan Deserved Hitler Treatment

"If Hitler had more friends, CBS wouldn’t have aired [its Hitler mini-series] either."
– Philadelphia Daily News TV critic Ellen Gray, as quoted by the Washington Post’s Lisa de Moraes in a November 4 column.

Would He Appreciate the Lies?

"Michael, your dad comes, came from the Hollywood community, and he knows what the issues of artistic freedom are. How do you think he’d react?"
– ABC’s Charles Gibson to Michael Reagan on Good Morning America, November 4.

Victory for the "Unholy Trinity"

"Hallelujah! The Gipper is safe and the hated liberal media humbled. It’s a big victory for the ‘Elephant Echo Chamber,’ the unholy trinity of conservative talk radio, conservative Internet sites and the Republican National Committee....It’s good to know that network docu-dramas are, forthwith, supposed to be ‘true,’ unless, of course, the truth is somehow ‘offensive’ to the myth, then we’ll take the myth, as long as the myth corresponds to the reigning politics of the moment. One thing’s for sure: When they make The Bush Dynasty docu-drama, that ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner won’t be visible in the scene on the aircraft carrier."
– Senior Editor Jonathan Alter in a column posted on Newsweek’s section of MSNBC’s Web site, November 4.