24 - Fair and Balanced?

[justin]

Originally Posted by shiny

DH watches 24 and when its on I notice that they get a lot of their news from Fox news. But then again, the show is on Fox so... maybe that's irrelevant.

That's just good ole fashioned "product placement".

[Leonidas]

Keifer Sutherland (apparently the star of the show) was interviewed by Charlie Rose. He labels his personal politics as "Socialist"...

To a large degree they`re private, but I believe - I believe inherently that - that we have a responsibility to take care of each other, so when you can talk about socialized healthcare, absolutely, that`s a no-brainer. Free universities, absolutely, that`s a no-brainer for me. So in the definition, I guess those are leaning towards socialist politics. To me it`s common sense. And I do believe the wealthy have a responsibility to the less fortunate. Some people call that communism. I disagree. Again, it`s common sense. But I would have to say that my politics would be leaning towards the left.

He goes on to describe the fan base and writing staff as diverse and "balanced"

KIEFER SUTHERLAND: Yes, and Dick Cheney and various people that are huge fans of the show. And then you`ve got the Clintons and you`ve got Barbra Streisand, and I think one of the great testaments of the show is that the show is incredibly balanced as well. I don`t think you could have it embraced by members of the right and members of the left at the same time. And if you ever took a look at our writing staff and their politics ...

CHARLIE ROSE: It`s all over the place?

KIEFER SUTHERLAND: It`s all over the place, yeah, absolutely. There is a representative from the right, and there is a representative from the left.

CHARLIE ROSE: It`s used by people from Barbra Streisand to Rush Limbaugh to make a point, "24" to make a point.

KIEFER SUTHERLAND: Yeah, yeah. Who am I to tell anybody how to interpret what we`re doing? We make it and we put it out there for you. Again, the thing that I can look back to with pride is that it`s that balanced, that the polarity of the audience is that diverse. Me, I kind of see things from a left perspective, so I`m always amazed when I see it galvanized by someone on the right.

[Baxter]

The New Yorker just posted a lengthy article about this very topic.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/...9fa_fact_mayer

Or, for one person's summary:

http://www.digbysblog.blogspot.com/2...25097079742580

Some of the comments to that post are pretty entertaining.