1 00:00:04,755 --> 00:00:08,995 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:23,395 --> 00:00:27,395 Speaker 1: Donald Trump may shortly be thrown under the bus by 3 00:00:27,875 --> 00:00:32,115 Speaker 1: the oath Keepers. Jury selection continues in Washington today for 4 00:00:32,155 --> 00:00:35,195 Speaker 1: the trial of Stuart Rhodes and four of his oath 5 00:00:35,275 --> 00:00:38,435 Speaker 1: Keeper's co conspirators, and there are two things to remember 6 00:00:38,475 --> 00:00:41,835 Speaker 1: at all times as you watch this trial proceed, and 7 00:00:41,955 --> 00:00:45,875 Speaker 1: watch it carefully. Firstly, remember that the judge has now 8 00:00:46,035 --> 00:00:49,595 Speaker 1: permitted Rhodes and the others to offer as their defense 9 00:00:49,915 --> 00:00:52,795 Speaker 1: that when they rushed towards the Capitol with guns on 10 00:00:52,875 --> 00:00:57,115 Speaker 1: January six, they believed they would be acting on lawful 11 00:00:57,395 --> 00:01:02,475 Speaker 1: orders from Trump as president. Secondly, remember that the real 12 00:01:02,675 --> 00:01:06,755 Speaker 1: first name of Stuart Rhodes, the I Patch guy, is 13 00:01:07,635 --> 00:01:11,595 Speaker 1: Elmer Elmer Stewart Rhodes. It will remind you at all 14 00:01:11,635 --> 00:01:15,155 Speaker 1: times of the stupidity of these pretend patriots and the 15 00:01:15,195 --> 00:01:19,355 Speaker 1: fact that democracy survives not from our efforts to preserve 16 00:01:19,395 --> 00:01:21,595 Speaker 1: it as much as from the idiocy of those who 17 00:01:21,595 --> 00:01:26,795 Speaker 1: would destroy it. Simply put, the roads Oathkeeper defense will 18 00:01:26,835 --> 00:01:31,555 Speaker 1: have to include sworn testimony from themselves and maybe from 19 00:01:31,595 --> 00:01:34,595 Speaker 1: others to back up this idea that Trump was going 20 00:01:34,675 --> 00:01:38,675 Speaker 1: to invoke the Insurrection Act and assume its powers to 21 00:01:38,795 --> 00:01:43,155 Speaker 1: declare emergencies and to deploy the military to quell protests 22 00:01:43,155 --> 00:01:47,395 Speaker 1: and unrest. And that they the oath keepers that pretend soldiers, 23 00:01:48,155 --> 00:01:51,275 Speaker 1: thought they were going to somehow be deputized to use 24 00:01:51,355 --> 00:01:54,395 Speaker 1: their guns as weapons and or threats to make sure 25 00:01:54,475 --> 00:01:58,035 Speaker 1: Joe Biden was not certified as the forty six president 26 00:01:58,075 --> 00:02:02,355 Speaker 1: of the United States. And there is one question where 27 00:02:02,915 --> 00:02:08,635 Speaker 1: did they get that idea. These creatures are on trial 28 00:02:08,755 --> 00:02:13,355 Speaker 1: for seditious conspiracy Elmer over there could get twenty years. 29 00:02:13,755 --> 00:02:17,155 Speaker 1: What is their plan? Are they going to actually testify 30 00:02:17,275 --> 00:02:19,475 Speaker 1: that The way they figured out Trump was going to 31 00:02:19,515 --> 00:02:24,875 Speaker 1: invoke the Insurrection Act was they guessed that they stockpiled 32 00:02:24,995 --> 00:02:28,555 Speaker 1: long guns and made plans to occupy federal buildings on 33 00:02:28,555 --> 00:02:33,995 Speaker 1: Trump's behalf because they assumed the oath keepers were willing 34 00:02:34,035 --> 00:02:37,595 Speaker 1: to pit themselves against the peaceful transfer of power in 35 00:02:37,595 --> 00:02:42,235 Speaker 1: the United States of America. Because it came to Rhods 36 00:02:42,275 --> 00:02:48,475 Speaker 1: in a dream. They have to have something, some conversations, 37 00:02:48,555 --> 00:02:53,755 Speaker 1: some intimations, some instructions, something that implicates Trump or somebody 38 00:02:53,835 --> 00:02:58,915 Speaker 1: near him as comical and moronic as Elmer Stewart, Rhodes 39 00:02:58,915 --> 00:03:01,635 Speaker 1: and the others. Look, they are not complete idiots. Yes, 40 00:03:02,395 --> 00:03:04,995 Speaker 1: Rhodes did shoot his eye out while he was a 41 00:03:05,035 --> 00:03:10,555 Speaker 1: firearms instructor by some accounts a firearms safety instructor. But 42 00:03:10,715 --> 00:03:14,515 Speaker 1: Rhodes was a staffer for Congressman Ron Paul who managed 43 00:03:14,555 --> 00:03:18,035 Speaker 1: to get himself into and through Yale Law and to 44 00:03:18,075 --> 00:03:20,715 Speaker 1: win a prize there for the best paper about the 45 00:03:20,755 --> 00:03:24,715 Speaker 1: Bill of Rights. He may have been disbarred in Montana later, 46 00:03:24,755 --> 00:03:27,635 Speaker 1: but Rhodes ain't making this up as he goes along, 47 00:03:27,875 --> 00:03:30,115 Speaker 1: And if he can make anything stick to Trump, that 48 00:03:30,235 --> 00:03:33,275 Speaker 1: could be the ball game in trying to save his 49 00:03:33,355 --> 00:03:36,835 Speaker 1: own ass. Even if he does not personally nailed Trump, 50 00:03:36,915 --> 00:03:40,715 Speaker 1: Roads can still do extraordinary damage to Trump world and 51 00:03:40,795 --> 00:03:43,275 Speaker 1: put pressure on a lot of Trump underlings two in 52 00:03:43,355 --> 00:03:47,635 Speaker 1: turn turn on Trump. A lot of the oath keepers 53 00:03:47,675 --> 00:03:51,195 Speaker 1: have already flipped. One of them spilled so much information 54 00:03:51,235 --> 00:03:54,075 Speaker 1: that his profer of evidence, a checklist of what and 55 00:03:54,115 --> 00:03:57,155 Speaker 1: who he's willing to testify about and against, was so 56 00:03:57,235 --> 00:04:00,515 Speaker 1: long that it had fifty one different items in a 57 00:04:00,675 --> 00:04:05,115 Speaker 1: fifty one Another oath keeper turned state's evidence, and in 58 00:04:05,195 --> 00:04:07,475 Speaker 1: his plea deal he told us that he had served 59 00:04:07,475 --> 00:04:12,555 Speaker 1: as Roger Stones chauffeur. On January six, another one texted Stone. 60 00:04:12,875 --> 00:04:16,155 Speaker 1: A third spoke to Stone. Yet another oath Keeper had 61 00:04:16,195 --> 00:04:18,475 Speaker 1: tried to reach the head of the Proud Boys group 62 00:04:18,515 --> 00:04:22,235 Speaker 1: after he was arrested for weapons possession two days earlier, 63 00:04:22,795 --> 00:04:28,755 Speaker 1: on New Year's Day, Rhodes Elmer Stewart. Rhodes had added 64 00:04:28,795 --> 00:04:32,315 Speaker 1: somebody he described as quote an event producer for Stop 65 00:04:32,395 --> 00:04:36,395 Speaker 1: the Steel to the oath Keepers group text chain quote 66 00:04:36,795 --> 00:04:40,795 Speaker 1: he can sort who is doing what in the creative 67 00:04:40,875 --> 00:04:46,515 Speaker 1: chaos that will be January five slash six. Rhodes wrote 68 00:04:46,515 --> 00:04:50,475 Speaker 1: that and added he's a good egg. So various oath 69 00:04:50,555 --> 00:04:54,755 Speaker 1: Keepers have valuable evidence against Roger Stone, against the Stop 70 00:04:54,835 --> 00:04:58,995 Speaker 1: the Steel crowd, against the Proud Boys, and Rhodes defense 71 00:04:59,075 --> 00:05:02,795 Speaker 1: at the trial just starting in DC clearly implies he's 72 00:05:02,875 --> 00:05:06,235 Speaker 1: also got something to connect Trump to this, even if 73 00:05:06,275 --> 00:05:11,595 Speaker 1: it is only their own testimony about what they heard. Plus, 74 00:05:12,315 --> 00:05:18,875 Speaker 1: there is one final easter egg, one other name, one 75 00:05:19,115 --> 00:05:23,275 Speaker 1: other Trump underling who may be more fascinating and at 76 00:05:23,355 --> 00:05:27,835 Speaker 1: more risk than all the others combined in that pile 77 00:05:27,995 --> 00:05:32,515 Speaker 1: of flipped oath keeper testimony. Is this On the afternoon 78 00:05:32,595 --> 00:05:37,235 Speaker 1: of January six itself, as the coup was attempted and 79 00:05:37,315 --> 00:05:42,035 Speaker 1: the capital stormed, yet another oath keeper texts the entire 80 00:05:42,155 --> 00:05:50,435 Speaker 1: group quote Ronnie Jackson, Texas office inside capital. He needs 81 00:05:51,195 --> 00:06:00,355 Speaker 1: oath keeper help unquote both keeper help Congressman Jackson. Less 82 00:06:00,355 --> 00:06:03,115 Speaker 1: than ten minutes later, the same oath keeper sends another text, 83 00:06:03,355 --> 00:06:06,755 Speaker 1: quote Dr Ronnie jack And on the move needs protection 84 00:06:06,795 --> 00:06:11,035 Speaker 1: if anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to 85 00:06:11,195 --> 00:06:15,635 Speaker 1: protect unquote. And immediately after that comes the answer, quote, 86 00:06:15,875 --> 00:06:20,955 Speaker 1: give him my cell That text is from Stewart Rhodes, 87 00:06:21,515 --> 00:06:23,915 Speaker 1: head of the oath Keepers, the man at the center 88 00:06:23,955 --> 00:06:29,035 Speaker 1: of our story today. Give Dr Ronnie Jackson, House of Representatives, 89 00:06:29,075 --> 00:06:33,435 Speaker 1: Texas former White House position, alleged former doctor feel good, 90 00:06:33,595 --> 00:06:36,955 Speaker 1: who has seen Trump naked, who is in the Capitol 91 00:06:37,115 --> 00:06:41,995 Speaker 1: during the coup, give him my cell phone. Hey, I 92 00:06:42,275 --> 00:06:46,115 Speaker 1: just met you and this is crazy, but here's my number, 93 00:06:46,395 --> 00:06:51,635 Speaker 1: so call me maybe. What do you mean, Congressman Ronnie 94 00:06:51,675 --> 00:06:55,435 Speaker 1: Jackson Trump butt kisser is quote on the move needs 95 00:06:55,475 --> 00:06:59,315 Speaker 1: protection because quote he has critical data to protect. What 96 00:06:59,555 --> 00:07:04,475 Speaker 1: kind of critical data? Actually, it doesn't matter. It could 97 00:07:04,515 --> 00:07:06,955 Speaker 1: be critical data or it could be just the mcguffin 98 00:07:07,035 --> 00:07:09,915 Speaker 1: that Alfred Hitchcock always talked about the plot point that 99 00:07:09,995 --> 00:07:12,875 Speaker 1: means life or death to the characters in the movie. 100 00:07:13,195 --> 00:07:16,315 Speaker 1: That means nothing to the audience in the theater. The 101 00:07:16,395 --> 00:07:21,115 Speaker 1: critical data could be nuclear material, could be Jackson's bottle 102 00:07:21,115 --> 00:07:25,515 Speaker 1: of Scotchy Scotch, could be malted milkballs. But like the 103 00:07:25,635 --> 00:07:28,675 Speaker 1: Rhodes Defense, we believed we were acting on what would 104 00:07:28,675 --> 00:07:32,475 Speaker 1: be orders from the president. The questions for Ronnie Jackson 105 00:07:32,475 --> 00:07:37,875 Speaker 1: are all deeply disturbing. Why, how, and for how long 106 00:07:38,115 --> 00:07:42,475 Speaker 1: did you, a sitting United States congressman, a sniveling Trump Tody, 107 00:07:42,675 --> 00:07:45,515 Speaker 1: the former physician to the President, Why, how and for 108 00:07:45,635 --> 00:07:48,275 Speaker 1: how long did you know that if there was trouble 109 00:07:48,315 --> 00:07:51,155 Speaker 1: inside the Capitol on January six, that the way for 110 00:07:51,235 --> 00:07:53,995 Speaker 1: you to protect both your critical data and your own 111 00:07:54,035 --> 00:07:57,035 Speaker 1: ass was to contact the founder of a bunch of 112 00:07:57,035 --> 00:08:01,995 Speaker 1: white nationalists, thugs like the oath Keepers. Ask for Elmer 113 00:08:02,155 --> 00:08:11,515 Speaker 1: when you call, who planned that? Who told Jackson that? When? Because, however, 114 00:08:12,235 --> 00:08:15,915 Speaker 1: and whenever Ronnie Jackson found out that this was the 115 00:08:15,955 --> 00:08:19,395 Speaker 1: glass he was supposed to break in the event of emergency, 116 00:08:19,435 --> 00:08:22,835 Speaker 1: it would be at that point, assuming they didn't just 117 00:08:22,955 --> 00:08:25,715 Speaker 1: make this up, it would be at that point that meeting, 118 00:08:25,795 --> 00:08:30,075 Speaker 1: that phone, called, that text change, whatever kind of communication 119 00:08:30,155 --> 00:08:32,715 Speaker 1: it was. It's at that point that the oath Keepers 120 00:08:32,755 --> 00:08:35,275 Speaker 1: and the Proud Boys and stop the Steel, and Roger 121 00:08:35,315 --> 00:08:37,515 Speaker 1: Stone and Moe Brooks and Paul goes On and Matt 122 00:08:37,515 --> 00:08:40,395 Speaker 1: Gates and Trump Junior and Crazy Trump and everybody else 123 00:08:40,435 --> 00:08:43,515 Speaker 1: who knew the January six plot in hole or in part. 124 00:08:43,795 --> 00:08:47,115 Speaker 1: This is where they all come together in one giant 125 00:08:47,515 --> 00:08:54,835 Speaker 1: seditious conspiracy. Seditious conspiracy, which is what so many oath 126 00:08:54,915 --> 00:08:57,795 Speaker 1: Keepers have already pleaded guilty to, which is what Rhodes 127 00:08:58,155 --> 00:09:01,275 Speaker 1: and the other four are on trial for right now 128 00:09:01,355 --> 00:09:05,195 Speaker 1: in Washington, which is what they could yet charge Trump with. 129 00:09:07,515 --> 00:09:09,635 Speaker 1: There might be a hundred moments in which these scum 130 00:09:09,715 --> 00:09:12,435 Speaker 1: conspirators got together to try to destroy this country. But 131 00:09:12,555 --> 00:09:16,915 Speaker 1: this moment when Ronnie Jackson was told, if indeed he 132 00:09:17,035 --> 00:09:19,995 Speaker 1: was told, if there's trouble in the capital on the six, 133 00:09:20,035 --> 00:09:21,915 Speaker 1: you get ahold of the oath Keepers. Their leader will 134 00:09:21,955 --> 00:09:25,315 Speaker 1: get you through our crowd, this moment happens to be 135 00:09:25,355 --> 00:09:28,875 Speaker 1: sitting right there, right in front of us, ready to burst, 136 00:09:29,595 --> 00:09:38,155 Speaker 1: burst all over Ronnie Jackson's critical data. Seditious conspiracy. So 137 00:09:38,315 --> 00:09:41,435 Speaker 1: the reason to pay attention to the please and the 138 00:09:41,475 --> 00:09:44,595 Speaker 1: convictions and the sleazy stories of the human flotsam and 139 00:09:44,715 --> 00:09:48,715 Speaker 1: Jetsam of January six, like Elmer Stewart Rhodes and the 140 00:09:48,795 --> 00:09:52,475 Speaker 1: four other oath keepers whose trial is just starting in Washington, 141 00:09:52,755 --> 00:09:58,235 Speaker 1: is that whatever they did, if there was a meeting, legally, 142 00:09:58,275 --> 00:10:01,395 Speaker 1: that means there was a plan. And if there was 143 00:10:01,555 --> 00:10:04,515 Speaker 1: a plan, legally, that means there was a conspiracy. And 144 00:10:04,555 --> 00:10:07,795 Speaker 1: if there was a conspiracy that involved Crazy Trump's former 145 00:10:07,835 --> 00:10:11,715 Speaker 1: presidential physician, we are at worst within shouting distance of 146 00:10:11,715 --> 00:10:15,395 Speaker 1: Trump himself. We might even be close, because we can 147 00:10:15,475 --> 00:10:20,475 Speaker 1: rest assured of one thing. When Ronnie Jackson phoned or 148 00:10:20,595 --> 00:10:24,715 Speaker 1: texted or whimpered for help, if he did when he sent, 149 00:10:25,195 --> 00:10:27,835 Speaker 1: if he did his s O S from inside the 150 00:10:27,955 --> 00:10:31,475 Speaker 1: belly of January six, it had to have been no 151 00:10:31,635 --> 00:10:34,995 Speaker 1: accident that he knew that the lyrics to his song 152 00:10:35,075 --> 00:10:52,075 Speaker 1: went who you Gonna call? Oh? Keepers? All right? Enough? 153 00:10:52,115 --> 00:10:55,395 Speaker 1: Pop references still ahead on countdown, say whatever happened to that? 154 00:10:55,555 --> 00:10:59,795 Speaker 1: Aaron Judge guy? And speaking of whatever happened to whatever 155 00:10:59,835 --> 00:11:02,595 Speaker 1: happened to sports all Star games? One league has just 156 00:11:02,795 --> 00:11:05,955 Speaker 1: canceled it's all Star game. I don't think they're gonna 157 00:11:05,995 --> 00:11:08,595 Speaker 1: be the last. In worse persons, what do you do 158 00:11:08,715 --> 00:11:12,515 Speaker 1: after you ban all the books in this Pennsylvania high school. 159 00:11:12,835 --> 00:11:16,235 Speaker 1: You then ban any commemorations of the banning of the books. 160 00:11:17,115 --> 00:11:19,995 Speaker 1: And for my money, it is the greatest movie ever made. 161 00:11:20,075 --> 00:11:25,875 Speaker 1: It forecasts everything in American news, media and television, and today, 162 00:11:25,995 --> 00:11:28,995 Speaker 1: forty six years after it was released, it is more 163 00:11:29,115 --> 00:11:32,555 Speaker 1: meaningful than ever because that is the natural order of 164 00:11:32,715 --> 00:11:36,355 Speaker 1: things today, that is the atomic and subatomic and galactic 165 00:11:36,395 --> 00:11:40,155 Speaker 1: structure of things today. And you have meddled with the 166 00:11:40,235 --> 00:11:47,115 Speaker 1: primal forces of nature and you will atone am I 167 00:11:47,115 --> 00:12:00,635 Speaker 1: getting through to you? That's next. This is countdown, you know, 168 00:12:00,755 --> 00:12:08,515 Speaker 1: this is countdown with you know Keith Alberman still ahead 169 00:12:08,515 --> 00:12:11,755 Speaker 1: on Countdown Richard the prophecies of the movie network, the 170 00:12:11,875 --> 00:12:14,955 Speaker 1: end of the All Star Game, and could have state 171 00:12:15,115 --> 00:12:20,835 Speaker 1: prosecute you for discussing birth control. Coming up first in 172 00:12:20,875 --> 00:12:22,995 Speaker 1: each edition of Countdown, we feature a dog in need 173 00:12:22,995 --> 00:12:26,315 Speaker 1: whom you can help. Every dog has its day to Brooklyn, 174 00:12:26,315 --> 00:12:29,435 Speaker 1: New York and Jinxy. Jinx is a senior Golden Little 175 00:12:29,515 --> 00:12:33,275 Speaker 1: Yorky mix of some kinds, struggling with chronic pneumonia and 176 00:12:33,355 --> 00:12:36,635 Speaker 1: antibiotics and going back and forth to a breath specialist 177 00:12:36,715 --> 00:12:39,475 Speaker 1: and finally getting a bronchoscope to try to figure out 178 00:12:39,475 --> 00:12:42,715 Speaker 1: why his left lung continues to threaten his life. It 179 00:12:42,835 --> 00:12:45,755 Speaker 1: costs a ton, But if you can save a sweet 180 00:12:45,755 --> 00:12:48,275 Speaker 1: dog who clearly wants to go on living and save 181 00:12:48,355 --> 00:12:52,555 Speaker 1: him discomfort and fear, why wouldn't you. A m A 182 00:12:52,555 --> 00:12:55,195 Speaker 1: Animal Rescue is doing a fundraiser for Jenks on go 183 00:12:55,355 --> 00:12:57,755 Speaker 1: fund me. If you can donate a dollar, it will 184 00:12:57,795 --> 00:13:00,595 Speaker 1: help defray their expenses. Whatever you can. You can look 185 00:13:00,595 --> 00:13:03,795 Speaker 1: for Jinxy j I n x I E or a 186 00:13:04,195 --> 00:13:06,715 Speaker 1: m A Rescue on go fund me, or just go 187 00:13:06,795 --> 00:13:08,835 Speaker 1: to my tweet about him on my account for Dogs 188 00:13:08,835 --> 00:13:12,475 Speaker 1: in Trouble at Tom Jumbo Grumbo on Twitter. Just to 189 00:13:12,555 --> 00:13:15,315 Speaker 1: retweet will help and thank you very much for doing so. 190 00:13:37,675 --> 00:13:43,955 Speaker 1: This is Sports Center. Wait, check that not anymore. This 191 00:13:44,955 --> 00:13:51,355 Speaker 1: is Countdown with Keith in Sports Aaron Judge has now 192 00:13:51,395 --> 00:13:55,235 Speaker 1: gone seven games without a home run, staying at sixty 193 00:13:55,315 --> 00:13:57,555 Speaker 1: after his New York Yankees beat Toronto five to two 194 00:13:57,595 --> 00:13:59,675 Speaker 1: to quench the American League East last night. And to 195 00:13:59,715 --> 00:14:03,035 Speaker 1: add to this madness, Judge has now walked in each 196 00:14:03,115 --> 00:14:05,515 Speaker 1: of his last four at back in that game, and 197 00:14:05,555 --> 00:14:08,515 Speaker 1: that's twelve walks in seven games and twenty seven walks 198 00:14:08,515 --> 00:14:11,195 Speaker 1: in the month of September. Could he really not get 199 00:14:11,235 --> 00:14:15,315 Speaker 1: to sixty homers or sixty two well? In two thousand seventeen, 200 00:14:15,395 --> 00:14:19,075 Speaker 1: his now teammate gian Carlos Stanton had fifty seven homers 201 00:14:19,115 --> 00:14:22,355 Speaker 1: for Miami with eight games left. He went four games 202 00:14:22,355 --> 00:14:24,275 Speaker 1: without a homer, then he hit two in one game 203 00:14:24,275 --> 00:14:27,235 Speaker 1: to reach fifty nine, and then none in his last 204 00:14:27,275 --> 00:14:30,075 Speaker 1: three games in his own ballpark. We do get a 205 00:14:30,075 --> 00:14:33,475 Speaker 1: record of some kind. Last night, Richard Blier, seven year 206 00:14:33,595 --> 00:14:36,995 Speaker 1: veteran pitcher of the Miami Marlins, charged with three box 207 00:14:37,555 --> 00:14:40,115 Speaker 1: as he faced just one batter, Pete Alonso of the 208 00:14:40,155 --> 00:14:43,595 Speaker 1: Mets in three d and four big league games. Richard 209 00:14:43,635 --> 00:14:47,715 Speaker 1: Blier had never been called for a ball before. Meanwhile, 210 00:14:47,755 --> 00:14:50,155 Speaker 1: the National Football League may have admitted something the other 211 00:14:50,235 --> 00:14:52,995 Speaker 1: leagues did not want them to. The All Star Game 212 00:14:53,035 --> 00:14:56,995 Speaker 1: in every sport is basically meaningless now except as the 213 00:14:57,035 --> 00:14:59,995 Speaker 1: centerpiece for the stuff the fans actually want to watch 214 00:15:00,275 --> 00:15:04,155 Speaker 1: and the players actually want to do, the slam dunk contest, 215 00:15:04,235 --> 00:15:08,035 Speaker 1: the whole run derby the skills competitions. The NFL has 216 00:15:08,075 --> 00:15:11,275 Speaker 1: eliminated it's all star game, the Pro Bowl, which it 217 00:15:11,315 --> 00:15:14,915 Speaker 1: has been playing in various forms since nine. It has 218 00:15:14,995 --> 00:15:18,715 Speaker 1: never developed its own Slam dunk contest or home run derby. 219 00:15:18,755 --> 00:15:21,355 Speaker 1: But it is the first to admit that those tales 220 00:15:21,875 --> 00:15:25,715 Speaker 1: now wag. The All Star Dog Football will instead have 221 00:15:25,795 --> 00:15:29,035 Speaker 1: a week long Pro Bowl games. The week before the 222 00:15:29,075 --> 00:15:31,995 Speaker 1: Super Bowl in Las Vegas, they'll have a flag football game, 223 00:15:32,075 --> 00:15:35,835 Speaker 1: and uh, whatever else they can dream up between now 224 00:15:35,875 --> 00:15:39,675 Speaker 1: and the last week of January. Guest Tom Brady's actual 225 00:15:39,795 --> 00:15:43,315 Speaker 1: age competition comes to mind. One imagines the other sports 226 00:15:43,315 --> 00:15:46,275 Speaker 1: will eventually follow suit. All Star games used to have 227 00:15:46,435 --> 00:15:49,795 Speaker 1: built in attractions except in the World Series. You never 228 00:15:49,875 --> 00:15:53,715 Speaker 1: saw National League Baseball players play against American League as 229 00:15:53,755 --> 00:15:57,195 Speaker 1: You never saw the stars in small markets at all, 230 00:15:57,235 --> 00:16:00,475 Speaker 1: even on television, And there they were all in one 231 00:16:00,515 --> 00:16:02,635 Speaker 1: place at the All Star Game, one place which you 232 00:16:02,715 --> 00:16:06,555 Speaker 1: can create every night merely by watching all the highlights 233 00:16:06,635 --> 00:16:10,595 Speaker 1: on the Baseball website. Hockey has staved off the elimination 234 00:16:10,595 --> 00:16:12,635 Speaker 1: of its All Star Game by making it into a 235 00:16:12,675 --> 00:16:16,275 Speaker 1: four team tournament with cash on the line, which motivates 236 00:16:16,275 --> 00:16:19,875 Speaker 1: hockey players like nothing you've ever seen before, and basketball 237 00:16:19,915 --> 00:16:23,875 Speaker 1: has shifted it's focused to its contests. If you don't 238 00:16:23,875 --> 00:16:26,875 Speaker 1: think the various All Star Games are meaningless, though, this 239 00:16:26,955 --> 00:16:30,875 Speaker 1: simple question who won this year's baseball All Star Game. 240 00:16:31,995 --> 00:16:35,395 Speaker 1: It was just two months and nine days ago. No 241 00:16:35,795 --> 00:16:42,795 Speaker 1: huh answer, American League score now three to two. Anything 242 00:16:42,835 --> 00:16:46,635 Speaker 1: interesting happen in it? National LEA led to zip, then 243 00:16:46,795 --> 00:16:49,035 Speaker 1: Gen Carlos Stanton hit a two run homer to tie it, 244 00:16:49,315 --> 00:16:52,155 Speaker 1: and Byron Buxton hit a solo homer, and the last 245 00:16:52,155 --> 00:16:56,715 Speaker 1: five innings were scoreless, and no, I confess I didn't 246 00:16:56,715 --> 00:17:12,555 Speaker 1: remember any of it either. Still ahead on countdown. I 247 00:17:12,595 --> 00:17:15,315 Speaker 1: think it is the most prophetic motion picture of all time, 248 00:17:15,395 --> 00:17:18,835 Speaker 1: as relevant today as it was when the fictional newscasts 249 00:17:18,835 --> 00:17:23,435 Speaker 1: and crazy fictional newscaster and crazy executives it portrayed all 250 00:17:23,555 --> 00:17:27,115 Speaker 1: did their thing forty seven years ago. This week it 251 00:17:27,315 --> 00:17:32,795 Speaker 1: is network and why it matters intensely today. Coming up first, 252 00:17:32,795 --> 00:17:35,115 Speaker 1: the daily round up of the miscrants, morons and Dunning 253 00:17:35,155 --> 00:17:40,075 Speaker 1: Krueger effect specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world. 254 00:17:40,155 --> 00:17:43,715 Speaker 1: You've got to get mad the Bronze Jeffrey Moore. He 255 00:17:43,795 --> 00:17:47,315 Speaker 1: quit abruptly last Friday as the Commissioner of Gangsden County, Florida, 256 00:17:47,555 --> 00:17:51,075 Speaker 1: appointed by Governor Ron Dessantis. Who else in July? And 257 00:17:51,155 --> 00:17:56,155 Speaker 1: nobody's saying why Mr Moore quit officially anyway, but local 258 00:17:56,235 --> 00:17:59,155 Speaker 1: leaders in the predominantly black county think they know why 259 00:17:59,755 --> 00:18:02,235 Speaker 1: a photo made the rounds of the county showing a 260 00:18:02,275 --> 00:18:05,755 Speaker 1: man in ku klux klan robe and hood. It may 261 00:18:05,795 --> 00:18:08,915 Speaker 1: have been taken in a costume party, or maybe it 262 00:18:08,995 --> 00:18:11,995 Speaker 1: was not a costume or a party, but those local 263 00:18:12,075 --> 00:18:14,715 Speaker 1: leaders are pretty sure one thing. They say, it shows, 264 00:18:15,035 --> 00:18:18,115 Speaker 1: or at least it looks like Jeffrey Moore, the guy 265 00:18:18,275 --> 00:18:21,515 Speaker 1: to sant disappointed, the guy who just quit without explanation. 266 00:18:21,875 --> 00:18:26,715 Speaker 1: Those proverbial local leaders would like an explanation. Runners up 267 00:18:26,755 --> 00:18:29,395 Speaker 1: the University of Idaho, the old abortion law that came 268 00:18:29,395 --> 00:18:32,435 Speaker 1: back into effect there after the Supreme Court gutted Roe v. 269 00:18:32,595 --> 00:18:35,715 Speaker 1: Wade is so draconian that an email went out to 270 00:18:35,795 --> 00:18:39,435 Speaker 1: all staffers at the university which warns them bluntly that 271 00:18:39,515 --> 00:18:42,915 Speaker 1: they could not only be immediately fired, but they could 272 00:18:42,915 --> 00:18:46,035 Speaker 1: be banned from ever again working for the state of Idaho, 273 00:18:46,195 --> 00:18:50,395 Speaker 1: and they could be prosecuted for a felony if they 274 00:18:50,395 --> 00:18:55,715 Speaker 1: are caught discussing abortion on campus. Oh In the University 275 00:18:55,715 --> 00:18:59,115 Speaker 1: of Idaho also says the same firing, banning prosecution deal 276 00:18:59,675 --> 00:19:05,035 Speaker 1: could occur if they discuss birth control on campus. But 277 00:19:05,155 --> 00:19:08,315 Speaker 1: the gold goes to in the same bain Joan Cullen, 278 00:19:08,595 --> 00:19:11,875 Speaker 1: school board president for Penridge High in Bucks County, and 279 00:19:11,955 --> 00:19:15,755 Speaker 1: Trump fan. That's kind of the DMZ between the Philadelphia 280 00:19:15,795 --> 00:19:19,635 Speaker 1: suburbs and the Pennsylvania rust belt. This remarkable story was 281 00:19:19,675 --> 00:19:22,995 Speaker 1: reported for The Philadelphia Inquirer by my friend of nearly 282 00:19:23,035 --> 00:19:25,875 Speaker 1: half a century half a century, God help us, the 283 00:19:25,875 --> 00:19:29,995 Speaker 1: impeccable Will Bunch, formerly of the Hackwey Dial Hackeck School, Terrytown, 284 00:19:29,995 --> 00:19:33,275 Speaker 1: New York, where I was his editor for at least 285 00:19:33,355 --> 00:19:37,635 Speaker 1: fifteen years. Will reports Penridge had an annual Banned Book 286 00:19:37,715 --> 00:19:40,515 Speaker 1: Week every September, complete with a display in the school 287 00:19:40,555 --> 00:19:45,075 Speaker 1: library that included George Orwell's Animal Farm and The Hate 288 00:19:45,155 --> 00:19:48,315 Speaker 1: You Give by Angie Thomas books the school actually tried 289 00:19:48,355 --> 00:19:52,435 Speaker 1: to ban Circuit two thousand six. Banned Book Week began 290 00:19:52,595 --> 00:19:57,275 Speaker 1: as scheduled last Monday, and then on Wednesday, students discovered 291 00:19:57,355 --> 00:20:03,475 Speaker 1: that the Banned Book Week display had vanished. It had 292 00:20:03,515 --> 00:20:07,115 Speaker 1: been banned and by school higher ups. Nobody knows for 293 00:20:07,155 --> 00:20:10,355 Speaker 1: certain exactly who, but at Penridge High in Pennsylvania, the 294 00:20:10,395 --> 00:20:15,115 Speaker 1: fascists have actually banned Banned Book Week, said the pen 295 00:20:15,235 --> 00:20:18,355 Speaker 1: Ridge senior Robin Reid, who wrote about the banning. How 296 00:20:18,675 --> 00:20:22,395 Speaker 1: or William is that? Well, Robin, the correct answer is 297 00:20:22,515 --> 00:20:25,395 Speaker 1: a whole lot. Whoever actually did it? We have to 298 00:20:25,435 --> 00:20:28,395 Speaker 1: give the award to somebody. So since Joan Cullen is 299 00:20:28,475 --> 00:20:31,195 Speaker 1: the school board president and she did rally for Trump 300 00:20:31,235 --> 00:20:34,955 Speaker 1: in DC just before the coup attempt January six, Joan, 301 00:20:35,675 --> 00:20:39,835 Speaker 1: soon we get to celebrate band Band Book Week week. 302 00:20:39,915 --> 00:21:04,515 Speaker 1: Colin Today's worst person in the world. You're bad to 303 00:21:04,715 --> 00:21:07,315 Speaker 1: the number one story on the countdown on my favorite topic. 304 00:21:07,435 --> 00:21:10,115 Speaker 1: Me and I was thinking about the hardcore definition the 305 00:21:10,155 --> 00:21:13,195 Speaker 1: other day of one's favorite motion picture. I think the 306 00:21:13,235 --> 00:21:16,915 Speaker 1: hardcore definition is this, if you could watch only one 307 00:21:16,995 --> 00:21:20,635 Speaker 1: movie for the rest of your life, but whether there's 308 00:21:20,715 --> 00:21:23,115 Speaker 1: life after death or there isn't, you could watch it 309 00:21:23,235 --> 00:21:26,555 Speaker 1: then too, and you could watch it with anybody now 310 00:21:26,795 --> 00:21:30,395 Speaker 1: or later. Which movie would it be under those circumstances. 311 00:21:30,395 --> 00:21:31,675 Speaker 1: And by the way, if you say, well, I've got 312 00:21:31,675 --> 00:21:34,795 Speaker 1: two choices, you forfeit and you can't watch any movies 313 00:21:34,835 --> 00:21:38,555 Speaker 1: the rest of your life or after it, Well, then 314 00:21:38,595 --> 00:21:41,995 Speaker 1: I'm taking the film that began in its alternate universe 315 00:21:42,075 --> 00:21:45,075 Speaker 1: forty seven years ago this week, that was a day 316 00:21:45,195 --> 00:21:48,675 Speaker 1: or two away from its eternal signature line, I'm as 317 00:21:48,755 --> 00:21:50,915 Speaker 1: mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore. 318 00:21:51,715 --> 00:21:55,555 Speaker 1: Network the Patty Chayevski film about the network anchor man 319 00:21:55,595 --> 00:21:58,395 Speaker 1: who announces he has been fired for low ratings and 320 00:21:58,475 --> 00:22:01,675 Speaker 1: so he has decided to kill himself on the air, 321 00:22:02,595 --> 00:22:05,795 Speaker 1: and his ratings promptly go up, and then he begins 322 00:22:05,795 --> 00:22:10,515 Speaker 1: to give voice to what our extra worldly prophecies and warnings. Well, 323 00:22:10,555 --> 00:22:13,235 Speaker 1: maybe they're that, or maybe they're they're pure ravings of 324 00:22:13,315 --> 00:22:18,555 Speaker 1: unadulterated insanity. Network starred Peter Finch as the newscaster, William 325 00:22:18,595 --> 00:22:21,555 Speaker 1: Holden as his best friend, the network news boss, Faye 326 00:22:21,595 --> 00:22:24,955 Speaker 1: Dunaway as the network programmer who sees in this newscast 327 00:22:24,995 --> 00:22:28,515 Speaker 1: a gold mine, and Robert Duval as the ambitious new 328 00:22:28,555 --> 00:22:31,675 Speaker 1: network chief who sees in the newscast his ticket to 329 00:22:31,755 --> 00:22:36,195 Speaker 1: the corporate boardroom. When I first saw Network as a 330 00:22:36,315 --> 00:22:41,355 Speaker 1: seventeen year old aspiring TV broadcaster, my jaw dropped and 331 00:22:41,475 --> 00:22:44,635 Speaker 1: it stayed dropped, and in the last forty six years, 332 00:22:44,675 --> 00:22:48,955 Speaker 1: my but jaw has barely moved from that position. The 333 00:22:49,035 --> 00:22:52,795 Speaker 1: world of TV news that Network predicted was not unthinkable 334 00:22:52,835 --> 00:22:57,395 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six, but it was a nightmare today, 335 00:22:57,475 --> 00:23:01,195 Speaker 1: virtually everything Chayavsky saw in the future has come true 336 00:23:01,275 --> 00:23:05,395 Speaker 1: and is accepted as conservative broadcast thing. The movie was 337 00:23:05,475 --> 00:23:09,155 Speaker 1: so prophetic that younger viewers sometimes see the quality of 338 00:23:09,155 --> 00:23:11,395 Speaker 1: the film and its artistry and its genius, but they 339 00:23:11,435 --> 00:23:14,155 Speaker 1: can't imagine what the big deal was about its content. 340 00:23:14,595 --> 00:23:17,235 Speaker 1: It's just showing TV news the way it's always been. 341 00:23:18,315 --> 00:23:21,355 Speaker 1: So a while ago, I sat down and watched Network, 342 00:23:21,395 --> 00:23:25,555 Speaker 1: and I took notes. I counted twenty three major things 343 00:23:25,555 --> 00:23:29,115 Speaker 1: about TV news that we're not true when Network came out, 344 00:23:29,235 --> 00:23:33,555 Speaker 1: but are true now, and they cover basically everything in 345 00:23:33,555 --> 00:23:37,875 Speaker 1: the business. First of these the on air breakdown of 346 00:23:37,915 --> 00:23:40,835 Speaker 1: a newscaster, Peter Finch's Howard Beal announces he's going to 347 00:23:40,875 --> 00:23:44,035 Speaker 1: shoot himself on the air. In one week, there was 348 00:23:44,075 --> 00:23:47,275 Speaker 1: a local news anchor named Christine Chubbuck who had already 349 00:23:47,355 --> 00:23:51,355 Speaker 1: shot herself during a newscast in Sarah sot In, but 350 00:23:51,475 --> 00:23:54,595 Speaker 1: she did not give advance warning nor show any indication 351 00:23:54,635 --> 00:23:59,875 Speaker 1: of emotional distress. Sadly, tragically, she just did it. But 352 00:23:59,995 --> 00:24:03,475 Speaker 1: after Network, things began to come apart at the seams 353 00:24:03,515 --> 00:24:07,475 Speaker 1: in local news and network news. In after reporter Bree 354 00:24:07,515 --> 00:24:10,595 Speaker 1: Walker of New York's Channel two News had concluded a 355 00:24:10,635 --> 00:24:14,755 Speaker 1: story on birth defects. Veteran anchor Jim Jensen questioned her 356 00:24:14,795 --> 00:24:18,155 Speaker 1: at length about a hand and foot deformity which she 357 00:24:18,355 --> 00:24:22,075 Speaker 1: herself suffered from, and whether or not her parents would 358 00:24:22,115 --> 00:24:24,675 Speaker 1: have aborted her had they known in advance she had 359 00:24:24,675 --> 00:24:27,995 Speaker 1: the condition. Shortly afterwards, Jensen, who had been on the 360 00:24:27,995 --> 00:24:31,195 Speaker 1: air in New York forever, entered a rehab center for 361 00:24:31,275 --> 00:24:35,435 Speaker 1: treatment of alcohol, prescription drug and cocaine abuse and depression. 362 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:39,075 Speaker 1: Later in two thousand four, Dan Harris had a live 363 00:24:39,195 --> 00:24:42,795 Speaker 1: panic attack on ABC's Good Morning America, losing his breath 364 00:24:42,795 --> 00:24:47,115 Speaker 1: and cutting his news cash short. Second of the Prophecies 365 00:24:47,155 --> 00:24:49,875 Speaker 1: Network posited that such a breakdown would lead not to 366 00:24:49,955 --> 00:24:54,235 Speaker 1: treatment nor removal from a broadcast, but to greater success. 367 00:24:55,115 --> 00:24:58,995 Speaker 1: Fifteen years ago, Glenn Beck began to regularly weep on 368 00:24:59,035 --> 00:25:02,675 Speaker 1: the air. If that was not an indication of emotional trouble, 369 00:25:02,995 --> 00:25:05,515 Speaker 1: it might have been the attempt to convey that feeling 370 00:25:05,875 --> 00:25:11,635 Speaker 1: legitimate or contrived. Beck was rewarded and the ABC newscaster 371 00:25:11,715 --> 00:25:13,675 Speaker 1: I just mentioned. Dan Harris would go on to do 372 00:25:13,715 --> 00:25:17,955 Speaker 1: a World News Tonight feature on his own on air breakdown. 373 00:25:19,195 --> 00:25:22,395 Speaker 1: Third Prophecy when Howard Beale first tells his boss, Max 374 00:25:22,435 --> 00:25:25,075 Speaker 1: Schumacher played by William Holden, that he will kill himself 375 00:25:25,115 --> 00:25:27,795 Speaker 1: on the air. Schumacher goes off on a drunken flight 376 00:25:27,835 --> 00:25:30,675 Speaker 1: of fancy about a new Sunday night news show he 377 00:25:30,795 --> 00:25:36,315 Speaker 1: called in his mind the Death Hour, Suicides, assassinations, mad bombers, 378 00:25:36,435 --> 00:25:41,075 Speaker 1: mafia hitman, automobile smash ups, he says, and a terrorist 379 00:25:41,235 --> 00:25:45,875 Speaker 1: of the Week. Schumacher's utterly dystopian forecast has not made 380 00:25:45,915 --> 00:25:49,835 Speaker 1: air yet, but the terrorism of nine eleven did play 381 00:25:49,875 --> 00:25:53,195 Speaker 1: out live on all networks, and parts of that terrorism 382 00:25:53,275 --> 00:25:58,555 Speaker 1: are repeated minimally annually. Much of a network like True 383 00:25:58,675 --> 00:26:03,275 Speaker 1: TV consisted of programs that were merely edited highlights of disasters, centering, 384 00:26:03,275 --> 00:26:07,195 Speaker 1: in fact, largely on as Max Schumacher phrased that automobile 385 00:26:07,275 --> 00:26:13,235 Speaker 1: smash ups, the fourth network Prophecy Beale swears repeatedly during 386 00:26:13,275 --> 00:26:17,155 Speaker 1: his newscasts. In the last few years, CNN in particular, 387 00:26:17,195 --> 00:26:19,835 Speaker 1: has made the decision to quote words that would have 388 00:26:19,915 --> 00:26:23,275 Speaker 1: been bleeped less than a decade ago, and at least 389 00:26:23,275 --> 00:26:26,155 Speaker 1: one broadcast television program, The Late Late Show with Craig 390 00:26:26,195 --> 00:26:29,595 Speaker 1: Ferguson on CBS, produced its show live to tape with 391 00:26:29,635 --> 00:26:33,235 Speaker 1: an audience and in real time let the host swear 392 00:26:33,395 --> 00:26:37,395 Speaker 1: copiously and then would bleep him just as copiously for 393 00:26:37,435 --> 00:26:41,555 Speaker 1: the broadcast itself. Maybe the scripted swear in the newscast 394 00:26:41,675 --> 00:26:46,475 Speaker 1: is not far away. Fifth of the network prophecies. Newscasts 395 00:26:46,555 --> 00:26:51,835 Speaker 1: did not do stories about other newscasts before network premiered. 396 00:26:52,475 --> 00:26:55,315 Speaker 1: When Beale announces his intention to kill himself, all of 397 00:26:55,395 --> 00:26:58,915 Speaker 1: New York's local ten and eleven PM newscasts made it 398 00:26:58,995 --> 00:27:03,075 Speaker 1: their lead story at this point, and in ensuing years, 399 00:27:03,195 --> 00:27:07,875 Speaker 1: even monumental hirements such as Chet Huntley's retirement in NBC 400 00:27:07,995 --> 00:27:11,315 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy or Walter cronkites retirement from CBS in 401 00:27:11,395 --> 00:27:15,715 Speaker 1: n had only merited the briefest of footnotes on rival 402 00:27:15,755 --> 00:27:19,475 Speaker 1: network programs. But by the time of Peter Jennings lung 403 00:27:19,515 --> 00:27:23,435 Speaker 1: cancer announcement in two thousand five, a newscast or newscaster 404 00:27:24,035 --> 00:27:27,835 Speaker 1: could become the lead story on another newscast. Indeed, when 405 00:27:27,835 --> 00:27:31,595 Speaker 1: I left MSNBC in January two thousand and eleven, announcing 406 00:27:31,595 --> 00:27:36,795 Speaker 1: it mid show, CNN's Anderson Cooper three sixty not only 407 00:27:36,955 --> 00:27:40,675 Speaker 1: led its live broadcast at ten pm ET with it, 408 00:27:40,675 --> 00:27:45,275 Speaker 1: it devoted a dumbfounding twenty two minutes to something that 409 00:27:45,275 --> 00:27:49,035 Speaker 1: would have been ignored even a decade before. Understand how 410 00:27:49,075 --> 00:27:53,395 Speaker 1: long twenty two minutes is on CNN. I retired from 411 00:27:53,395 --> 00:27:57,115 Speaker 1: the broadcast countdown on MSNBC and was able to get 412 00:27:57,155 --> 00:28:00,755 Speaker 1: home before he was done covering the story of my 413 00:28:00,875 --> 00:28:06,275 Speaker 1: retiring from the broadcast six and this was the key 414 00:28:06,435 --> 00:28:12,555 Speaker 1: to everything in network. And since network, Patty Hievsky and 415 00:28:12,715 --> 00:28:16,675 Speaker 1: his script forecast a moment in which newscasts would be 416 00:28:16,715 --> 00:28:20,035 Speaker 1: required to make money. It had not been that way 417 00:28:20,075 --> 00:28:23,715 Speaker 1: before news divisions were considered public service. The price the 418 00:28:23,755 --> 00:28:28,155 Speaker 1: networks paid to make billions off entertainment shows. Robert duval 419 00:28:28,395 --> 00:28:32,795 Speaker 1: As Frank Hackett, the executive, attacks UBS is quote credit 420 00:28:32,915 --> 00:28:35,835 Speaker 1: News division and its annual thirty three million dollar deficit. 421 00:28:36,515 --> 00:28:40,355 Speaker 1: As Hackett later tells UBS stockholders, in effect, the news 422 00:28:40,355 --> 00:28:43,395 Speaker 1: division would be reduced from an independent division to a 423 00:28:43,515 --> 00:28:49,115 Speaker 1: department accountable to network. After CBS was sold in, the 424 00:28:49,115 --> 00:28:51,995 Speaker 1: news budget was cut in half, and the moment arrived 425 00:28:52,035 --> 00:28:55,435 Speaker 1: newscast from there on in had to be profitable. In 426 00:28:55,515 --> 00:28:58,155 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, NBC took it to a new level 427 00:28:58,195 --> 00:29:01,715 Speaker 1: by appointing a programming executive with no news experience to 428 00:29:01,875 --> 00:29:05,675 Speaker 1: oversee all news on all of its at works stations 429 00:29:05,715 --> 00:29:10,355 Speaker 1: and even local cable systems. The reason Padai Chavsky could 430 00:29:10,395 --> 00:29:13,475 Speaker 1: see this when others could not was that he had 431 00:29:13,515 --> 00:29:16,595 Speaker 1: worked in live television drama in the nineteen fifties, particularly 432 00:29:16,635 --> 00:29:20,475 Speaker 1: on one show called You Are There, in which CBS 433 00:29:20,555 --> 00:29:23,915 Speaker 1: News reporters and actors re enacted great moments from history. 434 00:29:24,275 --> 00:29:27,315 Speaker 1: The newscasters could make extra cash on the side, and 435 00:29:27,355 --> 00:29:31,635 Speaker 1: the network made huge profits. The host of You Are There, 436 00:29:31,875 --> 00:29:38,995 Speaker 1: half News, half entertainment was Walter Cronkite. The seventh network 437 00:29:39,035 --> 00:29:43,755 Speaker 1: prophecy criminals videotaping their own crimes. A series in network 438 00:29:43,875 --> 00:29:47,515 Speaker 1: is created after a terrorist group called the Ecumenical Liberation 439 00:29:47,635 --> 00:29:50,955 Speaker 1: Army shoots film of its own members robbing a bank. 440 00:29:51,635 --> 00:29:56,835 Speaker 1: This was inconceivable in yet is today a facet of 441 00:29:56,915 --> 00:30:01,355 Speaker 1: every act, from the simplest self taped vandalism uploaded to YouTube, 442 00:30:01,795 --> 00:30:05,315 Speaker 1: to actual terrorist attacks, recordings of which are made by 443 00:30:05,395 --> 00:30:09,795 Speaker 1: and then disseminated to news organizations by the perpetrators. The 444 00:30:09,875 --> 00:30:14,915 Speaker 1: eighth prophecy of network television news as rage quote. The 445 00:30:14,915 --> 00:30:18,395 Speaker 1: American people want somebody to articulate their rage for them, 446 00:30:18,435 --> 00:30:22,635 Speaker 1: says Fay Dunaway's character Diana Christensen relative to cable news 447 00:30:22,675 --> 00:30:26,915 Speaker 1: in particular, does this even require me to elaborate at all? 448 00:30:28,075 --> 00:30:32,235 Speaker 1: Ninth Christiansen, not a news executive, is then given control 449 00:30:32,395 --> 00:30:37,395 Speaker 1: over and permission to program Beel's newscast, the UBS Evening News. 450 00:30:37,955 --> 00:30:40,755 Speaker 1: Although there was a history of news personnel being involved 451 00:30:40,755 --> 00:30:44,275 Speaker 1: in entertainment programming, Edward R. Murrow also did an interview 452 00:30:44,275 --> 00:30:48,475 Speaker 1: show called Person to Person. Evening newscast were sacro sancd 453 00:30:48,995 --> 00:30:52,155 Speaker 1: Today the fiction may be maintained that they're still sacro sancd, 454 00:30:52,275 --> 00:30:54,915 Speaker 1: But since the advent of the consultant on the local 455 00:30:54,955 --> 00:30:57,515 Speaker 1: news level in the late nineteen seventies and early eighties, 456 00:30:57,875 --> 00:31:00,915 Speaker 1: more and more decisions about not just who does the news, 457 00:31:01,235 --> 00:31:03,515 Speaker 1: but what goes on the news have been made by 458 00:31:03,635 --> 00:31:09,635 Speaker 1: non news executives. The tenth prophecy, Diana Christensen also foretells 459 00:31:09,675 --> 00:31:12,995 Speaker 1: the various genres of five nights a week network programming 460 00:31:13,195 --> 00:31:16,715 Speaker 1: that didn't happen before network She sees a profit center 461 00:31:16,755 --> 00:31:19,515 Speaker 1: in a chiefly produced, low budget program that can run 462 00:31:19,795 --> 00:31:23,995 Speaker 1: Monday through Friday and which happens to be about the news. 463 00:31:24,715 --> 00:31:27,435 Speaker 1: The other networks then try to find their own outlandish 464 00:31:27,475 --> 00:31:31,395 Speaker 1: newscasts and run them five nights a week. Padavsky is 465 00:31:31,435 --> 00:31:35,275 Speaker 1: now anticipating every genre of craze that followed in news, 466 00:31:35,595 --> 00:31:38,555 Speaker 1: from nightline to dateline Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 467 00:31:38,635 --> 00:31:42,435 Speaker 1: To American Idol to the NBC two thousand nine experiment 468 00:31:42,715 --> 00:31:45,155 Speaker 1: in which they put Jay Leno on for a comedy 469 00:31:45,155 --> 00:31:50,515 Speaker 1: show every night at ten pm. The eleventh Prophecy Network 470 00:31:50,595 --> 00:31:55,315 Speaker 1: anticipates government deregulation and what it would do to TV. 471 00:31:55,995 --> 00:31:59,675 Speaker 1: When the UVS President objects to a pornographic network news 472 00:31:59,675 --> 00:32:03,195 Speaker 1: show and Warren's the FCC and kill us Robert duval 473 00:32:03,315 --> 00:32:06,835 Speaker 1: as Hackett dismisses him and the f c C and 474 00:32:06,995 --> 00:32:09,715 Speaker 1: for tells the declawing of the commission. The f c 475 00:32:09,875 --> 00:32:13,115 Speaker 1: C can't do anything, so that wrap our knuckles again. 476 00:32:13,635 --> 00:32:17,475 Speaker 1: Does anything the FCC has not done in post network television? 477 00:32:18,075 --> 00:32:23,715 Speaker 1: Need any detail from me? Twelve News commentary devolving into 478 00:32:23,835 --> 00:32:28,355 Speaker 1: rants and takes? Wait? What did I write here? News 479 00:32:28,435 --> 00:32:33,155 Speaker 1: commentary devolves into rants and takes. I've never heard any 480 00:32:33,195 --> 00:32:37,715 Speaker 1: news commentator ranting what the hell is this? The rest 481 00:32:37,755 --> 00:32:39,995 Speaker 1: of this rant about the relevance of the movie network. 482 00:32:40,115 --> 00:32:48,595 Speaker 1: Right after this, before the break, I was about halfway 483 00:32:48,595 --> 00:32:51,835 Speaker 1: through my look at the remarkably prescient nineteen seventy six 484 00:32:51,875 --> 00:32:55,955 Speaker 1: film network, which foresaw things we thought impossible then, ranging 485 00:32:56,035 --> 00:33:00,515 Speaker 1: from TV news covering TV news as news two terrorists 486 00:33:00,595 --> 00:33:04,155 Speaker 1: videotaping their own terror and giving it to newscasts, to 487 00:33:04,315 --> 00:33:08,315 Speaker 1: the wealth thing that network fore told, the evolution or 488 00:33:08,475 --> 00:33:14,115 Speaker 1: devolution of news commentary into takes and rants. What in 489 00:33:14,235 --> 00:33:17,955 Speaker 1: substance are we proposing? New network chief Hackett asks his 490 00:33:18,195 --> 00:33:21,795 Speaker 1: horrified colleagues. Then he answers his own question, merely to 491 00:33:21,875 --> 00:33:25,995 Speaker 1: add editorial comment to our news show, Brinkley several reasoner 492 00:33:26,035 --> 00:33:28,955 Speaker 1: all have their comments. Now, Howard beat will have his. 493 00:33:30,075 --> 00:33:34,155 Speaker 1: Hackett's erasure of a line between nuanced, thoughtful scripts of 494 00:33:34,195 --> 00:33:38,915 Speaker 1: commentary agonized over by commentators, producers, and executives and add 495 00:33:38,955 --> 00:33:44,195 Speaker 1: libbed madness foresaw the similar real life change. Not merely 496 00:33:44,275 --> 00:33:47,915 Speaker 1: were comments added to newscasts, but the standards for what 497 00:33:48,035 --> 00:33:52,075 Speaker 1: constituted useful public commentary dropped from an ages old tradition 498 00:33:52,115 --> 00:33:57,955 Speaker 1: of newspaper editorials and columnists to verbal graffiti spontaneously letting 499 00:33:57,955 --> 00:34:03,275 Speaker 1: out his anger the thirteenth network prophecy. Newscasters and commentators 500 00:34:03,755 --> 00:34:07,515 Speaker 1: never used to claim that God told them what to say. 501 00:34:07,795 --> 00:34:10,715 Speaker 1: The Beale specifically quotes the voice who tells him to 502 00:34:10,795 --> 00:34:13,275 Speaker 1: tell the people the truth as also saying that that 503 00:34:13,395 --> 00:34:17,115 Speaker 1: voice is not God. Beale still says he feels quote 504 00:34:17,195 --> 00:34:22,635 Speaker 1: imbued and connected to all living things. The leap for 505 00:34:22,675 --> 00:34:28,315 Speaker 1: a commentator from hearing your inner voice to hearing somebody 506 00:34:28,315 --> 00:34:32,155 Speaker 1: else's inner voice was preposterous enough as it was, but 507 00:34:32,275 --> 00:34:35,715 Speaker 1: reality took it further. While Glenn Beck may not have 508 00:34:35,835 --> 00:34:40,115 Speaker 1: claimed God was writing his commentaries for him, in April 509 00:34:40,155 --> 00:34:43,355 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, according to the U T. San Diego News, 510 00:34:43,875 --> 00:34:46,915 Speaker 1: he told an audience in Rancho, San Diego that God 511 00:34:47,195 --> 00:34:50,955 Speaker 1: did tell him to quit his job at Fox News Channel. 512 00:34:51,675 --> 00:34:54,315 Speaker 1: On the day he decided to leave, they wrote, Beck 513 00:34:54,355 --> 00:34:56,475 Speaker 1: said he walked up to a floor to ceiling window 514 00:34:56,515 --> 00:34:58,875 Speaker 1: in his New York apartment and asked his wife, how 515 00:34:58,915 --> 00:35:02,515 Speaker 1: could this possibly be God's plan? As I stood there, 516 00:35:02,515 --> 00:35:05,795 Speaker 1: the Lord whispered to me. If you do not leave now, 517 00:35:06,155 --> 00:35:09,115 Speaker 1: you will lose your soul. Beck said it was the 518 00:35:09,155 --> 00:35:13,915 Speaker 1: easiest decision I've ever made. Beck also later announced that 519 00:35:13,955 --> 00:35:17,075 Speaker 1: God not only Wantedmit Romney to be president, but had 520 00:35:17,075 --> 00:35:20,235 Speaker 1: put him behind in the polls so that when Romney won, 521 00:35:20,395 --> 00:35:23,955 Speaker 1: everyone would see a modern miracle. Had that one turn 522 00:35:23,995 --> 00:35:28,595 Speaker 1: out for you, Glenn four Network Prophecy Network accurately predicted 523 00:35:28,635 --> 00:35:31,475 Speaker 1: that journalists would stop throwing themselves in front of professional 524 00:35:31,475 --> 00:35:36,035 Speaker 1: train wrex. The same year that network was released, a 525 00:35:36,115 --> 00:35:39,675 Speaker 1: House committee wanted correspond at Daniel Shore of CBS News 526 00:35:39,715 --> 00:35:42,115 Speaker 1: to testify about where he got a copy of a 527 00:35:42,195 --> 00:35:47,275 Speaker 1: secret report. He refused. CBS pressured him to testify, so 528 00:35:48,235 --> 00:35:52,795 Speaker 1: he quit. He quit his job, but Network for told 529 00:35:53,195 --> 00:35:55,595 Speaker 1: that Shore would be among the last to do something 530 00:35:55,635 --> 00:35:59,035 Speaker 1: like that. William Holden's Max Schumacher tries to derail the 531 00:35:59,075 --> 00:36:03,115 Speaker 1: Howard Beal Prophecy and Rage newscast by telling Robert Duval's 532 00:36:03,115 --> 00:36:04,715 Speaker 1: Frank Hackett, you want me out of hear your and 533 00:36:04,875 --> 00:36:06,995 Speaker 1: have to drag me out of here, kicking and screaming 534 00:36:06,995 --> 00:36:09,075 Speaker 1: in the whole news division kicking and screaming with me. 535 00:36:09,915 --> 00:36:13,395 Speaker 1: Hackett dismisses him. You think they're gonna quit their jobs 536 00:36:13,435 --> 00:36:17,195 Speaker 1: for you. Not. In this recession, buddy, the premise of 537 00:36:17,235 --> 00:36:21,155 Speaker 1: the integrity of news people was as widely held as 538 00:36:21,235 --> 00:36:25,395 Speaker 1: the integrity and inviolability of a news division, and yet 539 00:36:25,435 --> 00:36:30,195 Speaker 1: in each downsizing, redesigning, and bobalterization, of the old standard 540 00:36:30,235 --> 00:36:36,075 Speaker 1: concept of news again. Patty Chayevski foresaw correctly the number 541 00:36:36,115 --> 00:36:40,515 Speaker 1: of public protests, let alone public exits, has been negligible 542 00:36:40,515 --> 00:36:44,075 Speaker 1: in the last thirty years. Dan rather railed against the 543 00:36:44,115 --> 00:36:48,835 Speaker 1: gutting of CBS. That's been about it, and for all 544 00:36:48,835 --> 00:36:51,755 Speaker 1: the other good things Dan has done, he didn't quit 545 00:36:51,795 --> 00:36:57,475 Speaker 1: his job. Network Force saw reality television and the staging 546 00:36:57,555 --> 00:37:01,355 Speaker 1: of news. When Christiansen meets with the activist Lorraine Hobbs 547 00:37:01,395 --> 00:37:04,275 Speaker 1: and her attorneys to program their terrorism show them out, 548 00:37:04,355 --> 00:37:08,395 Speaker 1: say flung Our, She's not merely reflecting the coming amorality 549 00:37:08,435 --> 00:37:12,355 Speaker 1: of reality television, nor just amplifying the already extant if 550 00:37:12,395 --> 00:37:16,275 Speaker 1: it bleeds it leads mantra of local news. Through her, 551 00:37:16,355 --> 00:37:19,795 Speaker 1: Patty Chayaski is also for telling a time when television 552 00:37:19,795 --> 00:37:23,915 Speaker 1: would begin not to cover the news, but to orchestrate it. 553 00:37:24,595 --> 00:37:26,755 Speaker 1: If the networks have yet to actually be guilty of 554 00:37:26,835 --> 00:37:31,075 Speaker 1: misprision of a penalty regarding terrorists, we hope surely on 555 00:37:31,115 --> 00:37:35,115 Speaker 1: a lesser scale. The NBC scandal over faked video of 556 00:37:35,515 --> 00:37:39,715 Speaker 1: Chevy trucks exploding after collisions confirms the basic premise of 557 00:37:39,755 --> 00:37:44,595 Speaker 1: adding programming helper to the actual news somewhat more remotely. 558 00:37:44,795 --> 00:37:49,635 Speaker 1: Event recreations were once absolutely impermissible in news, they are 559 00:37:49,675 --> 00:37:54,155 Speaker 1: now one of its staples. There are eight more prophecies, 560 00:37:54,435 --> 00:37:58,835 Speaker 1: and they all fall into one category. Howard Beal's revised newscast, 561 00:37:58,875 --> 00:38:01,795 Speaker 1: The Network News Hour, has components in it, eight of 562 00:38:01,835 --> 00:38:04,915 Speaker 1: them that would have been thought absurd in any Who's 563 00:38:04,995 --> 00:38:08,115 Speaker 1: cast anywhere the day that the Film Network premiered. In 564 00:38:08,195 --> 00:38:16,195 Speaker 1: Number one, it has a studio audience. Countless newscasts, particularly 565 00:38:16,235 --> 00:38:20,915 Speaker 1: on cable, have now used studio audiences. MSNBC's Donahue did 566 00:38:20,915 --> 00:38:25,035 Speaker 1: it nightly in two thousand to two thousand three. Others 567 00:38:25,075 --> 00:38:28,555 Speaker 1: like Anderson Cooper and Chris Matthews and Chris Hayes have 568 00:38:28,715 --> 00:38:34,195 Speaker 1: experimented with it. Number two. Predicting the news on the 569 00:38:34,235 --> 00:38:39,275 Speaker 1: Beal Show, Sybil the Soothsayer actually predicts the news. Well, 570 00:38:39,275 --> 00:38:43,355 Speaker 1: nobody has done that yet, not literally. But what does 571 00:38:43,435 --> 00:38:47,395 Speaker 1: every specialty newscast, especially political ones, do in its last 572 00:38:47,435 --> 00:38:51,155 Speaker 1: broadcast before Monday? Almost invariably there is some kind of 573 00:38:51,355 --> 00:38:55,235 Speaker 1: prediction or forecast for the week ahead what to look for, 574 00:38:55,795 --> 00:38:59,195 Speaker 1: and if it is not institutionalized in that distinct manner, 575 00:38:59,515 --> 00:39:03,515 Speaker 1: the show still contains pundits who do nothing but forecast 576 00:39:03,595 --> 00:39:08,555 Speaker 1: tomorrow's news as long ago as would try on Thursday 577 00:39:08,635 --> 00:39:13,075 Speaker 1: night to guess where the Clinton Lewinsky story was going 578 00:39:13,515 --> 00:39:16,035 Speaker 1: and what we could give them to put in the 579 00:39:16,115 --> 00:39:21,515 Speaker 1: prerecorded promos that would run on Monday, three days later. 580 00:39:22,875 --> 00:39:26,275 Speaker 1: Number three Trial Obsessed TV News. There is a Howard 581 00:39:26,275 --> 00:39:30,155 Speaker 1: Beale segment called Jim Webbing and His It's the Emmis 582 00:39:30,275 --> 00:39:33,755 Speaker 1: Truth Department. The script is a little vague. We don't know. 583 00:39:34,555 --> 00:39:37,035 Speaker 1: Is the Emis Truth a series of hard to believe 584 00:39:37,155 --> 00:39:40,755 Speaker 1: news stories. Does that giant logo behind Jim Webbing of 585 00:39:40,875 --> 00:39:44,395 Speaker 1: Justice carrying her scales suggests it's a regular report on 586 00:39:44,515 --> 00:39:47,595 Speaker 1: trials and the law? Or is the emphasis on emmis 587 00:39:47,995 --> 00:39:51,195 Speaker 1: as in, you've been lied to? Here's the real truth, 588 00:39:51,275 --> 00:39:55,515 Speaker 1: not the cover up? Which is it? Well? Does it matter? Which? 589 00:39:56,195 --> 00:39:59,995 Speaker 1: Do we not have all of them? Concurrently every hour 590 00:40:01,435 --> 00:40:06,755 Speaker 1: fourth public sexual scandal coverage. Another Beal segment stars Miss 591 00:40:06,835 --> 00:40:09,595 Speaker 1: Matta Harry and her skeletons in the closet and she 592 00:40:09,715 --> 00:40:12,995 Speaker 1: stands in front of a giant keyhole. This is something 593 00:40:13,035 --> 00:40:16,475 Speaker 1: beyond just gossip, and it has become the sustaining joy 594 00:40:16,515 --> 00:40:21,315 Speaker 1: of all newscasts, from the cheesiest local station to PBS, 595 00:40:21,355 --> 00:40:27,795 Speaker 1: the public sex scandal, Ask Bill Clinton, Ask Madison Cawthorne. 596 00:40:29,315 --> 00:40:32,995 Speaker 1: Fifth opinion polls. As News, Bill has a regular segment 597 00:40:33,035 --> 00:40:37,195 Speaker 1: called Vox Populi, the Calculation and Reporting of public opinion. 598 00:40:37,475 --> 00:40:39,795 Speaker 1: This one is the hardest to explain to younger viewers 599 00:40:39,795 --> 00:40:43,795 Speaker 1: of the film network, But the idea of running polls, 600 00:40:44,275 --> 00:40:48,435 Speaker 1: especially polls conducted by the news organization that would then 601 00:40:48,515 --> 00:40:52,835 Speaker 1: televise the results of those polls, was laughable when Tayavsky 602 00:40:52,915 --> 00:40:57,435 Speaker 1: saw it coming. Now, TV news organizations like MSNBC will 603 00:40:57,475 --> 00:41:01,275 Speaker 1: not only employ somewhat reliable polling morning, noon, and night, 604 00:41:01,475 --> 00:41:05,035 Speaker 1: but they'll also employ text polls in which views are 605 00:41:05,035 --> 00:41:08,475 Speaker 1: asked if a particular Republican is a evil or be 606 00:41:08,875 --> 00:41:13,755 Speaker 1: just stupid. Moreover, every newscast believes in relies on and 607 00:41:13,875 --> 00:41:17,595 Speaker 1: most of them commission their own polling for everything and 608 00:41:17,675 --> 00:41:22,555 Speaker 1: treats the results as breaking news. Guilty is charged here, 609 00:41:23,035 --> 00:41:27,475 Speaker 1: I did it, then I do it. In this podcast six, 610 00:41:27,875 --> 00:41:31,035 Speaker 1: The Corporate Influence Bill opens the first edition of The 611 00:41:31,075 --> 00:41:34,555 Speaker 1: Network News Hour with the death of network president Ed 612 00:41:34,635 --> 00:41:37,435 Speaker 1: Ruddy and the ascent of Frank Hackett and the full 613 00:41:37,475 --> 00:41:41,675 Speaker 1: control of UBS by the company c C. A. Bill 614 00:41:41,835 --> 00:41:44,995 Speaker 1: asks when the twelfth largest company in the world controls 615 00:41:45,155 --> 00:41:48,915 Speaker 1: the most awesome, goddamn propaganda forces in the whole godless world. 616 00:41:49,195 --> 00:41:52,435 Speaker 1: Who knows what blank will be pedaled for truth on 617 00:41:52,515 --> 00:41:58,155 Speaker 1: this network. The cross promotion between g E and NBC 618 00:41:58,915 --> 00:42:02,955 Speaker 1: and its various networks and channels, or Universal Studios when 619 00:42:02,995 --> 00:42:07,115 Speaker 1: the former owned the ladder, or between Disney Networks and 620 00:42:07,235 --> 00:42:12,315 Speaker 1: Disney products, ABC, ESPN, the cross quotation of one news 621 00:42:12,355 --> 00:42:16,075 Speaker 1: corps print entity by a news corps broadcast entity, or 622 00:42:16,155 --> 00:42:19,355 Speaker 1: Fox News and the like. That was only the start. 623 00:42:20,395 --> 00:42:23,835 Speaker 1: But what is Fox News? What is O A N? 624 00:42:23,915 --> 00:42:27,035 Speaker 1: What is news Max? What is the serious coverage of 625 00:42:27,075 --> 00:42:32,235 Speaker 1: the entire big lie about the presidential election? You think 626 00:42:32,275 --> 00:42:35,635 Speaker 1: those are the newscasters thinking all that up? It is 627 00:42:35,675 --> 00:42:39,755 Speaker 1: exactly what Chayefsky had Beal Warren of, What if the 628 00:42:39,755 --> 00:42:44,355 Speaker 1: corporations own all the television networks and tell you what 629 00:42:44,475 --> 00:42:49,675 Speaker 1: they the corporations want you to hear? Seven direct involvement 630 00:42:49,715 --> 00:42:53,955 Speaker 1: of corporate CEOs in news content. Well, I know of 631 00:42:53,955 --> 00:42:56,195 Speaker 1: no meeting in which a real life equivalent to the 632 00:42:56,275 --> 00:42:59,075 Speaker 1: Ned Baity character, one of the great characters in motion 633 00:42:59,155 --> 00:43:03,755 Speaker 1: picture history, Arthur Jensen preaches fire and Brimstone to Howard 634 00:43:03,795 --> 00:43:06,875 Speaker 1: Beale to at him to do what he Jentsen wants. 635 00:43:07,635 --> 00:43:12,155 Speaker 1: But I can tell you without fear of contradiction, as 636 00:43:12,195 --> 00:43:17,675 Speaker 1: a witness to this, that corporate CEOs will tell individual 637 00:43:17,755 --> 00:43:21,995 Speaker 1: newscasters what they want personally, directly and with the threat 638 00:43:22,075 --> 00:43:27,075 Speaker 1: of retribution spoken or otherwise. Just yesterday here I mentioned 639 00:43:27,155 --> 00:43:30,155 Speaker 1: Jeff Immelt, the head of g E in the summer 640 00:43:30,155 --> 00:43:32,995 Speaker 1: of two thousand nine, during the well publicized g E 641 00:43:33,355 --> 00:43:38,155 Speaker 1: swoon over MSNBC's criticism of m l's friends at Fox News. 642 00:43:38,795 --> 00:43:43,195 Speaker 1: Eventually it was all resolved when Immelt had me come 643 00:43:43,275 --> 00:43:46,795 Speaker 1: up to the private g E NBC dining room a 644 00:43:46,875 --> 00:43:49,715 Speaker 1: top thirty Rock in New York City along with NBC 645 00:43:49,795 --> 00:43:53,995 Speaker 1: President Jeff Zucker to hash it all out. This thing 646 00:43:54,115 --> 00:43:58,435 Speaker 1: lasted two hours. When I finally asked Immelt, is this 647 00:43:58,475 --> 00:44:01,755 Speaker 1: a question of never criticizing Fox again? Or how much 648 00:44:01,835 --> 00:44:05,835 Speaker 1: we criticize Fox? He said how my much? And I said, 649 00:44:06,235 --> 00:44:09,275 Speaker 1: well I can do less, and he said, well great, Really, 650 00:44:09,515 --> 00:44:13,755 Speaker 1: then it's resolved. Let's eat. And that's when m L 651 00:44:13,915 --> 00:44:17,275 Speaker 1: confirmed that he had met on this topic with Rupert Murdoch, 652 00:44:17,795 --> 00:44:20,235 Speaker 1: the CEO of News Corps, and that Jeff Zucker had 653 00:44:20,275 --> 00:44:23,515 Speaker 1: met with Roger Ales, who ran Fox News, to discuss 654 00:44:23,875 --> 00:44:28,395 Speaker 1: what the Fox Corporation and the NBC Corporation would and 655 00:44:28,475 --> 00:44:31,555 Speaker 1: would not allow their television networks to report about each other. 656 00:44:32,995 --> 00:44:40,435 Speaker 1: Eight lastly, assassination spoiler alert about the movie Network. I 657 00:44:40,515 --> 00:44:43,275 Speaker 1: don't think anybody has actually been killed by his own 658 00:44:43,355 --> 00:44:48,875 Speaker 1: bosses for having lousy ratings, but the moral equivalent character 659 00:44:48,915 --> 00:44:52,875 Speaker 1: assassination of a network's own newscasters. That is a regular 660 00:44:52,995 --> 00:44:57,355 Speaker 1: technique to undermine them, to discipline them, to make them 661 00:44:57,395 --> 00:45:01,315 Speaker 1: more malleable, to get away with firing them. In Aaron 662 00:45:01,435 --> 00:45:06,755 Speaker 1: Sorkin's newsroom, his employers were themselves leaking gossip about their newscaster, 663 00:45:06,915 --> 00:45:11,395 Speaker 1: played by Jeff Daniels, to the tabloid newspaper they also owned. 664 00:45:12,555 --> 00:45:14,795 Speaker 1: But I know for a fact that past bosses of 665 00:45:14,835 --> 00:45:17,635 Speaker 1: mine at NBC leaked to The New York Post in 666 00:45:17,675 --> 00:45:21,355 Speaker 1: hopes of making me fear from my job. When Current 667 00:45:21,395 --> 00:45:23,755 Speaker 1: TV tried to fire me to get out of having 668 00:45:23,755 --> 00:45:26,995 Speaker 1: to pay me roughly fifty million dollars, it still owed me. 669 00:45:27,195 --> 00:45:30,955 Speaker 1: It actually hired a former White House spin doctor to 670 00:45:31,155 --> 00:45:34,555 Speaker 1: make up and spread stories with his contacts about me 671 00:45:35,035 --> 00:45:40,235 Speaker 1: in hopes of getting themselves off the financial hook. If 672 00:45:40,275 --> 00:45:42,955 Speaker 1: you have never seen the movie Network, all that I've 673 00:45:42,955 --> 00:45:45,275 Speaker 1: been through in the last twenty minutes probably makes it 674 00:45:45,315 --> 00:45:48,515 Speaker 1: sound like some sort of drab, almost academic treatise on 675 00:45:48,635 --> 00:45:54,155 Speaker 1: declining journalistic values and personal moral decay. Well, it's anything 676 00:45:54,235 --> 00:45:57,795 Speaker 1: but that. It is exciting, hilarious, surprising, terrifying, and it's 677 00:45:57,875 --> 00:46:02,755 Speaker 1: virtually perfect, with brilliant acting and a subtle but perceptible 678 00:46:02,795 --> 00:46:05,915 Speaker 1: sense that everybody in the film and everybody watching the 679 00:46:05,955 --> 00:46:12,955 Speaker 1: film is detaching slowly and slowly and more slowly, detaching 680 00:46:13,035 --> 00:46:16,275 Speaker 1: from reality and the reliable world they thought they knew 681 00:46:16,555 --> 00:46:20,875 Speaker 1: with every passing minute of the film. But mostly it's 682 00:46:20,915 --> 00:46:23,635 Speaker 1: just a great flick. If you have not seen it, 683 00:46:24,275 --> 00:46:28,395 Speaker 1: see it now. To paraphrise for Finch as so, turn 684 00:46:28,435 --> 00:46:31,435 Speaker 1: off this podcast and go watch Network. Turn it off now, 685 00:46:31,635 --> 00:46:33,595 Speaker 1: turn it off right now, turn it off and leave 686 00:46:33,595 --> 00:46:35,315 Speaker 1: it off. Turn it off right in the middle of 687 00:46:35,355 --> 00:46:45,715 Speaker 1: the sentence I'm speaking to you now, I've done all 688 00:46:45,755 --> 00:46:48,595 Speaker 1: the damage I can do here. Seriously, if you've never 689 00:46:48,635 --> 00:46:52,915 Speaker 1: seen Network, seriously help me out here about the podcast. 690 00:46:52,915 --> 00:46:54,795 Speaker 1: Give this thing a good review or rating, or a 691 00:46:54,795 --> 00:46:57,355 Speaker 1: heart or a smiley emoji or I don't know whatever. 692 00:46:57,995 --> 00:47:00,955 Speaker 1: The countdown theme from Beethoven's Ninth It was arranged, produced, 693 00:47:00,955 --> 00:47:03,955 Speaker 1: and performed by Countdown musical directors Brian Ray and John Philips. 694 00:47:03,995 --> 00:47:07,675 Speaker 1: Channel guitars, bass and drums by Brian Ray, All orchestration 695 00:47:07,715 --> 00:47:10,555 Speaker 1: and keyboards by John Philip. Channel produced by T k 696 00:47:10,715 --> 00:47:14,435 Speaker 1: O Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed 697 00:47:14,475 --> 00:47:18,275 Speaker 1: by No horns allowed our sports music. The Alderman theme 698 00:47:18,315 --> 00:47:21,435 Speaker 1: from ESPN two was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy 699 00:47:21,475 --> 00:47:25,155 Speaker 1: of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Faust. The best 700 00:47:25,155 --> 00:47:28,915 Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever at our announcer today was Richard Lewis. 701 00:47:29,355 --> 00:47:33,755 Speaker 1: Everything else is pretty much my fault. And that's countdown 702 00:47:33,755 --> 00:47:35,955 Speaker 1: for this the six and thirty first day since Donald 703 00:47:35,955 --> 00:47:39,195 Speaker 1: Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of 704 00:47:39,235 --> 00:47:42,155 Speaker 1: the United States. Arrest him now while we still can 705 00:47:43,075 --> 00:47:46,315 Speaker 1: a new episode tomorrow. Until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, 706 00:47:46,315 --> 00:47:58,515 Speaker 1: good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman 707 00:47:58,675 --> 00:48:02,075 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 708 00:48:02,115 --> 00:48:04,875 Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 709 00:48:04,915 --> 00:48:08,275 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.