Entertainment

How does TV get away with it?

Whether it’s swinging a baseball bat, a tennis racket or a golf club, the self-evident secret to a good swing is a smooth, full, natural follow through. Anything less can be extremely ineffective, even counterproductive.

Same goes for the TV news business. Unfortunately, though, the smooth, full, natural — and most important — follow-up question is often left unasked.

Even before 9/11, Muslim-American spokespersons appeared on local and national newscasts, as well as news forum programs, to explain Islam in the aftermath of the latest terror attacks and murders — attacks in the name of Islam, here, there and everywhere.

And these spokespersons say the much the same thing: “We do not condone such activities. Terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. Genuine Islam is a religion of peace.”

Okey dokey. And then that’s that.

It’s a TV drill that’s reproduced after every known successful and unsuccessful act of domestic and international terrorism attached to Muslim perpetrators who credit God with their working knowledge of detonation devices.

But, perhaps because the interviewers don’t want to seem impolite and impolitic, they never ask any version of the question that begs to be asked next:

“Sounds good, but if murderous attacks by Islamic extremists are antithetical to the beliefs of American Muslims, and if there are nearly three million Muslims living here, why is it that not once, down any Main Street in any city, have Muslim-Americans gathered — rallied or marched as a group of the concerned and like-minded — to demonstrate their repudiation of Muslim terrorism?

“Why aren’t Muslim-Americans eager to convey their great and group regard for American principals, diversity and freedoms — especially freedom from fear and religious freedom?”

In other words, after the same spokespersons condemn the latest episode, why not ask why we’re only told that but never shown; why doesn’t Muslim America ever walk the walk?

Consider that as early as 1934, German-Americans — members of the Steuben Society and Carl Schurz Assn. — demonstrated their opposition to Nazism. By 1938, 22 German-American clubs in eastern Pennsylvania had joined the anti-Nazi German League of Culture.

Yet, the only Muslim demonstrations seen in the U.S. since 9/11 have been staged by flag-burning radicals calling for “Death To America,” as per Allah’s instructions.

So where are the counter-demonstrations from Muslim-Americans?

If they’re afraid of being targeted for murder by jihadists, why not combat such a perversion of Islam rather than shrink from it?

Final question: Why are such questions never asked?

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TV News Speak of the Week:

* “Affordable housing.” Yep, it’s back. Affordable housing is housing built for people who can’t afford housing, thus it’s actually unaffordable housing.

* “A lack of transparency.” When Wall St. executives acknowledge “a lack of transparency,” that’s just a slick way of saying, “I lied” or “We lied.”

* “Edgy.” Instead of a TV exec explaining that the network’s new show relies on any combination of lewd, vulgar, extremely violent, sex-soaked, crude, desensitizing and highly inappropriate content for the young audiences it targets, that exec simply calls it “edgy.” (With last week’s cancellation of “The Sarah Silverman Program,” Comedy Central will likely replace an edgy show with another edgy show or even an edgier show.)

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How long before local newscasts add laugh tracks?

On CW11’s night time news om May 12, sports anchor Lolita Lopez reported that rappers “Jay-Z and Eminem have a huge announcement. Find out what it is on our blog!”

Blog? Don’t we turn to newscasts to hear the news as opposed to hearing where to find it? (Lopez’s blog carried the already widely reported “news” that the rappers will perform at Yankee Stadium in September.)

Weekday mornings, CW’s Philadelphia newscasts include a standup comedy segment from Danny Bonaduce.

See ya in journalism school!