auflusl 19.2005’ jUSt OUt.41
Anchors
away
Peter Jennings’ death sends network news
further Into the abyss
s a longtime pop culture junkie, I’m
hopelessly preoccupied with celebrity
deaths.
Whenever I hear about the passing of
a fallen star—the more low-rent the better—I
pause for a moment of silence. This year alone
we’ve lost Miss Ellie from Dallas, Scotty from
Star Trek, The Riddler from Batman and Dex:
Baker from Little House on the Prairie (who
kicked the bucket in Grants Pass, of all places).
But when news broke that ABC anchor
Peter Jennings died of lung cancer Aug. 7 at
by Jim Radosta
age 67,1 was actually bummed. Not only was
he a familiar face on the evening news for 27
*
years, but he exemplified a smart sophistication
that has been quickly fading from broadcast
THE TOP SHELF
journalism since the telecommunications
deregulation of 1996.
Good news for Melissa Etheridge fans:
With the recent departures of Dan Rather
After announcing last October that
from CBS and Tom Brokaw from NBC, we
she was undergoing surgery to have a
face an uncertain future of further deteriorating
malignant tumor removed from her
newscasts that confuse entertainment with
breast, the dyke rocker told Extra
information, that synergize stories with sweeps
Aug. 4 that she is cancer free. She attributed
stunts and, most shamefully, that ignore the fla
her successful recovery to the strong support of
grant corruption of the Bush administration.
her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels.
The networks now have an arsenal of smoking
“At the end of the whole thing when it was
guns—Diebold, Abu Ghraib, Downing Street,
over, I came home to a bouquet that said ‘in
Jeff Gannon, Karl Rove—but you wouldn’t
sickness and in health,’ and she means it,”
know it by tuning in to ABC’s World News
Etheridge said. “And the love and support of
Tonight. Instead, the program recently devoted
someone like that is worth all the money in
a significant segment of its precious time to the
the world.”
popularity of Christian video games.
The couple are even planning on having a
How far we’ve sunk since 1979, when ABC
baby together, but David Crosby wqn’t be the
News produced The Killing Ground, a scathing
sperm donor this time around. “Been there,
expose on toxic waste dumps like the one in
done that,” Etheridge said.
Love Canal near Nia
As one queer icon heals, another
gara, N.Y. The chief
ails. Ani DiFranco’s label
correspondent was none
announced July 21 that the tireless
other than Brit Hume,
singer/songwriter is taking a hiatus
who’s now polluting the
from live performance until next
airwaves himself at the
summer because of tendonitis.
Fox News Channel.
“In late spring, Ani’s doctor
Clinton Street Theater
instructed her to follow a regimen of
screened the documen
relative rest, restriction of hand use
tary this month as part
to critical times, nonsteroidal med
of a retrospective on
ications and splinting," Righteous
investigative journalism,
Babe Records said in a statement.
and I was struck by the
“Unfortunately, after having taken
steadfast zeal of the
almost three months off from touring
reporters who went after
earlier this year to treat her condi
these unapologetic cor Peter Jennings: Thank you, and
tion, Ani’s problems have not
porate scumbags.
decreased
in severity. If she were to
good night.
These days, ABC
continue to perform at this time, she
News apparently has nothing better to do than
would risk permanent nerve damage to her
disparage the dead. Last November—mere
hands.”
weeks after the gay-bashing of the 2004 presi
Di Franco was scheduled to perform Sept. 2
dential election— 2QI20 aired a segment that
in Veneta, Sept. 3 in Portland and Sept. 10 in
implied Matthew Shepard was murdered not
Jacksonville. Those who have already pur
because he was gay but because of money and
chased tickets should check with the point of
drugs. That’s right, folks, the most famous anti-
purchase for instructions on receiving a refund.
gay hate crime in history wasn’t really motivat
ed by hate—if you believe highly dubious
sources, misleading oversimplifications, distort
Zff
“Star Wars is over/Will the force be
ed conjecture and sensationalistic repetition of
with me so/I can get laid now?”
unsubstantiated claims.
—My entry in the Live Wire! haiku
I’ve been a journalist for more than half my
contest Aug. 17 at the Aladdin. (This month's
life, ever since I joined my high school news
theme was “summer blockbusters.”) Find out if I
paper 18 years ago. While studying journalism
won by tuning in to the zany radio variety show at
in college, 1 learned that members of the media
7 p.m. Aug. 27 on OPB.
are supposed to pursue truth with the same
commitment that doctors and lawyers dedicate
Humphries, aka Dame Edna, as if they were old
to health and justice. 1 still believe in this
friends. While the world celebrated together
ideal, but without respectable journalists like
for a brief moment of unity, Edna remarked
Peter Jennings around, it’s going to be difficult.
optimistically, “You feel, perhaps, peace among
My fondest memory of his tenure at ABC
men is a possibility.”
came on New Year’s Eve 1999, when he calmly
Ah, those were the days. JF1
reported on the non-event that was Y2K. From
Arts and Culture Editor J IM RAIXISTA needs
his perch in the middle of Times Square, Jen
your feedback. Write to jim@justout.com.
nings chatted with drag comedian Barry
Jim's Closet
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