It's last Monday's episode. Larry is interviewing Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," about his thoughts on the political elections. I first take notice when Bill starts attacking the credibility of the Bible, or as he likes to call it, "that old book of Jewish fairy tales." God, I love freedom of speech, don't you?
Anyway, so Larry continues proding Bill for good soundbytes, asking him what went wrong with Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani's campaigns, blah blah blah. And then Bill really starts to lay into the Republican Party, saying that a good portion the GOP's leaders are gay but no names are mentioned.
Or, so I thought. After watching, I Googled the program for kicks and learned that the live version of the show had been edited, leaving out the part where Bill implies that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Melhman is a homosexual.
(The Huffington Post does a great job of showing the difference of the two clips.)
Soooo many questions spawn from this broadcast decision. Why did CNN censor Bill's comment? My knowledge of libel and slander is a little rusty (I forgot pretty much everything after I took my media law final...), but would it really have been that bad if CNN left that comment in there? According to CNN's spokesperson, yes.
Also, does the program lose any meaning, any credibility without that comment?
And, lastly, what did Bill's PR people do? I'm guessing that they've learned to just let him go. That's what he's so famous for, after all.
Bill did say one thing in particular, though, that I thought meshed very well with my last post: "In today's day and age, if you're not in the news cycle, you don't exist."
He was referring to Giuliani's lack of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, but I think his point applies across the board. The media may not tell you what to think, but they certainly tell you what to think about.
And, apparently, not too many people were thinking Giuliani when it came time to vote. Lesson learned.
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