A Letter from the Editor

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 16, 2001 | by Paul M. Rodriguez

Dear Readers,

The news is abstract stuff to most readers and mostly just superficial to network TV viewers. At least that's the view of one high-profile editor in the Big Apple we heard pontificating on the radio the other day.

What brings this to mind is the failure by too many newsmen and their outlets just to tell folks the facts about what's going on in a balanced context. We strive to do that here at Insight and on our Webwire (www.insightmag.com). We take responsibility.

Some others don't: "Studios and advertising people and networks and sponsors are willing to pay a lot of money for advertising because they know how much it influences people and children watching TV, and yet they're not willing to admit that violence that comes into the home has an effect on children. You can't have it both ways." That's what Premiere magazine, in its September 1999 issue, quoted actress Michelle Pfeiffer as saying about her industry.

If ever there was a more succinct statement on violence and social responsibility in the movies, we just can't think of one more compelling. And yet we've not seen this reported elsewhere or explored with such exquisite insight as Pfeiffer offered in those 55 words. Why?

We've just returned from the 9th Annual Movie Guide Awards on March 21 in Los Angeles. Guess what? There is something about the biggest box-office hits touted by the Oscars and many movie reviewers that few have mentioned: Family movies with Judeo-Christian values now are runaway hits. Yet most reviews and studios shy away from publicizing this good news. Why?

As proved by J. Michael Waller's "Espionage and National Security" spy story in our April 2-9 issue, and Kenneth R. Timmerman's article on p. 14 in this issue, we don't think you're stupid. We think facts are important for you to place things in context. So much for abstract thinking.

Until next week then, God bless.

Paul M. Rodriguez Managing Editor