NBC yesterday bumped an appearance by conservative commentator Ann Coulter, sparking reports that she had been “banned for life” from the network and its cable news channels, the New York Post says. The network denied she had been banned, saying it was due to breaking news, the Hollywood Reporter says. A network spokeswoman said NBC looks forward to having her back in the future, while Coulter wrote on her Web site: “I guess this ends the ‘They-just-want-to-get-ratings’ argument about liberal media bias.”
—Aimee Picchi
NBC Bumps Conservative Coulter
Jan 6, 2009 • Post A Comment
But the Today Show had time for Perez Hilton, whose book also debuts this week. Perez is famous for offering money to anyone who would throw a pie at Ann Coulter.
Does anyone really believe NBC? What breaking news? Seems like a normal news day to me.
Kudos to NBC! Thank you for standing up to this ignorant hatemonger. She deserves it! All the networks should shun her.
Hate mongers had a field day during the election season and a new era of hyper-cynicism is forming. Reflecting a wide range of views is one thing, but the type of mean-spirited misery reflected by Coulter is good to put to pasture. Maybe someday there can be level headed debate. Coulter has never contributed to this. Let her make bundles in hate-monger speeches and books, and keep her off the soap-box of major media. She’ll be a mainstay on Fox.
Gee, I wonder if the so-called Fairness Doctrine will only apply to conservative talk radio. Perhaps the liberal networks need to rethink their group think and have someone on who differs from their opinions. I don’t like Ann Coulter either, but this is censorship. So what, they don’t like her. They need to grow up.
Guests get bumped from live programs all the time. Is it just because it happened to a notorious loud-mouth that the media is noticing at all? The media needs to manufacture conflict in order to keep everyone following it. If they’d bumped Al Franken, it would also be reported, and a different collective of interests would line up to speak out about it. To bump a guest who already has a national platform from which to cast her views upon the masses from a broadcast of a national network is not censorship; it is a change in scheduling at best or a fabrication of conflict for the sake of keeping us all watching at worst.
Good points give me reason to think again. A little more balance is much needed, especially on NBC’s cable nets. NBC shouldn’t have bumped her. Never a good thing when censorship takes over the mass media.
She has gone from an attractive thoughtful, controversial conservative to a bitter old insulting hag. I don’t know anyone who respects her anymore. No loss for NBC. Other networks should follow.