Kabuki Interview

I saw The Dixie Chicks being interviewed by Chris Matthews yesterday, and the topic turned to media consolidation and its role in silencing their voices in 2003. Because so many radio stations are owned by one or two conglomerates like Clear Channel and Viacom, it was very easy for a boycott like that to go national.

It amused me to no end that this interview was taking place on MSNBC, owned by GE.

Especially in light of this:

NBC is refusing to air an ad for the new Dixie Chicks documentary, “Shut Up & Sing." Variety reports, “NBC’s commercial clearance department said in writing that it ‘cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.’”

The spot is an ad for a fucking movie, a factual account of what happened to a band who dared to exercise their free speech. It's being censored.

And it's being censored by the very company who brought the band on one of their family of networks yesterday, where the host commiserated with them about the dangers of media consolidation.

Is it possible to get so angry that your head actually explodes?