CSPAN Blinks for Bolly and Bush

When CSPAN began its coverage of the Iranian Prez's unique recipe of fact and fancy at Columbia University, we were treated to not one, not two, but ten minutes of suddenly-worried-about-his-job Columbia President Lee Bollinger's hastily penned and poorly edited name-calling Introduction-as-Tirade. Once the Bollywood performance was through, though, we realized, we would would acttually hear from the Iranian horse's ass --oops--horse's mouth himself.

Imagine our surprise when, 7 minutes into the Bollybelch, CSPAN suddenly added a streamer to the screen noting that CSPAN would shortly cut away to coverage of a mini-subcommittee's hearing on a minor maritime safety bill. We looked at each other - Impossible! CSPAN isn't SO politicized that it would let the Basher speak, but then censor the Bashee.

Ah but 'twas so. Bollinger vanishes from the screen in the midst of a finger point and the still mostly empty committee room appears. Shades of Big Bruddah! No Iranian Prez! Such courage! Protecting CSPAN viewers from unfiltered Ahmadinijad? But not to worry, the CSpaniels whined, the Iranian Big Cheese's speech would appear on....CSPAN 3. Oh fine, we muttered grabbing the channel changer.....WHAT? We HAD no CSPAN 3? A little searching, and it turns out that only a tiny minority of US cable services offer CSPAN 3. Not the one we were looking at in the remote wilds of suburban Washington DC. Sly indeed Cspan.

Perhaps the commercial cable stations would carry him.....? Nope. Tired of flicking through cop shows and the rest of the dreck making up television these days, I turned to ol' faithful: WPFW, Pacifica Radio, and.... tadaah !....there's Ahmadinejad - honking and crowing in the background while a translator rendered into English in the foreground.

We listened, eyebrows raising at times, frowning at others, chuckling or laughing along, communicating in a way with his live audience. Impressed by some of his statements, comtemptuous of others, and massively embarrassed by the anti-free speech frenzy that preceded and followed his talk. And ashamed as a journalist of CSPAN's gutless retreat from making the Iranian President's speech available to all cabled Americans. One hopes Washington Post TV Columnist Tom Shales and/or the Village Voice's Nat Hentoff calls them on it.