The investigation will be “thorough and swift,” Powell said yesterday. “Our nation’s children, parents and citizens deserve better.” That would be Michael–not Colin–Powell and this is not about that investigation into those pesky missing WMDs; it’s that high-level probe into who knew what and when about how Janet Jackson’s breast–adorned with a silver “nipple guard”–was exposed by pop idol Justin Timberlake before millions of upstanding Americans during the Super Bowl half-time show.
Surfing Tuesday’s morning shows, I blearily counted more time devoted to heated discussion about what Timberlake called a “wardrobe malfunction” than to debate about the Administration’s hyping and cherry-picking (excuse the word) of intelligence in order to mislead a nation into war.
But, I’m not shocked that our TV culture cares more for weapons of mass distraction. Nor am I shocked at Michael Powell’s “shock.” As executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy Jeff Chester points out, Powell is trying to distract the public and press from the impact of his decision last June changing the media rules and making CBS, among others, far more powerful. Powell’s rule changes have done more than anything to support the “rude-lewd” business model of the big networks, a fact he’s hoping his investigation will obscure.
And, let’s not forget, as Chester reminds us, that CBS is now lobbying the Bush White House and the GOP leadership for more favors after the Administraton leaned on Congress to cut a special deal two weeks ago on TV ownership, allowing Viacom and Fox to keep extra stations over the previously-legal limit.
How about an FCC investigation into that kind of indecency?
