A lengthy opinion column that appeared in the San Francisco Examiner
on Monday warned against the planned Hollywood/Washington task force
aimed at encouraging the entertainment industry to join in the war
against terrorism.
The column, by Joe Leydon, a frequent movie critic
for The Examiner, and Michael Ryan, a professor at the University
of Houston’s Department of Communications, said that “government
meddling” in the entertainment business “should be stifled.”
It warned
that the task force “could foster a climate in which one ideology
predominates and contrary voices are silenced.” It also warned that, in
the case of television, “the line between news and entertainment,
already blurred, could be obliterated if the industry gives the White
House a channel through which to exert influence.”
