Bob Sirot Subliminally Endorses Bunnypants?!?!?!?!?!

[KharmaTrain]

Last night, in his closing remarks, Chicago Tonight host Bob Sirot related a story about meeting a veteran who had just returned from Iraq. Sirot then said how he asked the man about his experiences in the war and said the former soldier told him how this war was making this country safer, bringing "freedom" to the Iraqi people and the laundry list of right wing justifications for the invasion.

I've attempted to find an online transcript but all that's currently posted at the www.wttw.com website: http://www.wttw.com/chicagotonight/archive/thisweek.html is the following:

One More Thing...
... about a complicated issue.


At the very end, Sirot closes with something along the lines of being so impressed with what this soldier had told him that it helped him decide who he would be voting for in the election. No metion of a candidate name, but if one reads between the lines, it's not hard to read this hidden endorsement.

Before I post my feeling further, I was curious if others had seen this segment and their observations.

Cheers.

[gatlingforme]

1. I did not see that segment, but Bob Sirot is a moron and should

never had been given the position he is in I like Ponce alot better.

[FullCountNotRecount]

2. Horrible right wing change at WTTW:

All the real estate developers in Chicago are on the board. Stupid restaurant review show...

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. And they put Antiques Roadshow on at 1 p.m. Saturday!!!!

Ponce was far superior to Sirott. Jeez, I remember the days when he was a radio deejay and was known as BS. How true.

[gatlingforme]

9. I loved Ponce. The best was when Blago and Ryan were debating

and Blago walked off the set..... I laughed so hard seeing Ryans face..Ponce was just as surprised though.

[gatlingforme]

8. I was wondering why that came on.... thanks for the info.

[barb162]

4. Sirott adds less than nothing to that show and Phil Ponce was

screwed royally by management. Ponce was and remains a far better interviewer, host, etc., than Sirott could ever dream to be. Sirott is a complete lightweight.

[Logansquare]

5. I hate Bob "I had a mullet until 2001" Sirot

He would be a lightweight on WGN, for God's sake. WTTW is doing a good job of making itself absolutely irrelevant.

[Nexus7]

6. BS would be a good host if he removed the stick from his a**

I don't watch WTTV, I might as well get it out in the open. I'm very unimpressedwith both WTTV 11 and 91.5. I was used to a far better NPR affiliate, AM580 "The Information Advantage." The PBS channel down there was decent too. Hell, Dayton OH, had a better affiliate.

That said, I did tune in to them for the DNC convention (I figured it was the best choice among the free channels). I remember thinking that this guy had some kinda stick inserted firmly up his a**, he just couldn't articulate normally. I'm used to phony voices and phony excitement on the corporate networks, but that used to be absent on PBS. Then Lynn Sweet (sp?) comes on, and I'm thinking, does she have a thorn in her paw about something or what? Anyhow, my experience with this channel didn't make me a repeat customer. Enough said.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Thanks All For The Replies

I figured I'd sit on this one for a day and see what others had to say...or see if someone else saw this.

I'm a "Sustaining Member" of Channel 11 and, for the most part, I'm a pleased customer. This channel does offer Frontline, Nova, NOW and other great PBS shows and their new digital channel is excellent. On overall "service" there really isn't a better quality public station in the country.

That said...I have never like Sirot. This started with his smarmy WLS days...then his cutsie movie reviews and then the Channel 5 and 32 shows. In my book he was and still is the epitome "Yuppie"...selfish, self absorbed and an asshole. I had the "chance" to meet him several times over the years and know others who were far closer and my initial impression wasn't wrong. The guy's a complete asshole.

Now I try to keep my personal feeling out of writing something of this sort or passing judgement on one's body of work...that is until they cross the line where their personal opinions override that work. Last night did that for me.

Phil Ponce is the class act of that show. Rich Samuels is also good, just flakey and Elizabeth Brackett has one good show for every five bad one (her grilling of Jack Ryan was awesome, then she's doing a story on an art fair). Sadly this is one of the few shows that covers Chicago area issues, thus I could stomache the Sirot segments until Ponce came on. When it's Sirot vanity pieces or another boring Landecker movie review I'm off to greener pastures.

In the 70's, Channel 11 became a corporation and has acted like a big business rather than a civic institution. Money reigns supreme and it shows on how they operate the station and treat their viewers. Corporates get super kiss-ass treatment as WTTW has one of the largest staff's and highest payrolls of any public station in the country...and it still makes money.

My major problem with Sirott's stunt last night is how disengenious it was. While it wasn't specifically marked as an editorial, this is what it was. He masked his endorsement in a cutsey fashion so to tweak the noses of his bosses...but it was obvious to anyone tuned in who he was endorsing. If the guy had stones, he should either come right out and say "I endorse George W. Bush" or take his personal comments elsewhere (plenty of talk shows and newspaper space to fill) and do it there.

I'm considering changing my membership status (I know this will get a response) when my annual renewal comes up next month...cutting my contribution in half or more, and keeping at that level or even reducing it further as long as Sirot is associated with that program.

Cheers and thanks to all my fellow Illinois DUers!

[Logansquare]

10. My 2 cents on WTTW

WTTW is one of the most profitable public tv stations in the country, and one of the most corrupt. In the last few years they have had a huge embezzlement scandal, as well as questionable personal expenditures on the part of station execs. Station managers laid off a shitload of people and froze others' salaries, and still the head guy gave himself a Lexus to drive as a "company car." There is much evidence that PBS in general has experienced a conservative takeover, but WTTW is in the forefront when it comes to censoring or minimizing alternative or controversial content.

WTTW put one of my favorite shows, P.O.V. on after 11 pm, because they couldn't take the heat from their conservative corporate sponsors. I have no idea if it is even carried anymore, because I have to go to bed at 10, like a lot of working grownups.

They moved Bill Moyer's NOW to Sunday at noon, instead of Friday evenings like every other PBS affiliate, and have a second showing in the wee hours of the morning on some night of the week, who the hell knows. I have looked at other affilate's schedules, including the WOSU, the PBS affiliate in *very* conservative Columbus, Ohio, and they have it on Friday night.

Every fucking time I turn that station on, they have some puff piece on the wonders of being Irish in Chicago, or a Rick Steves, or a lame 70s pop band, or a cooking show. Christ forgive us if something controversial would actually come on. I'm amazed that Frontline is still being carried. The local programming has been neutered to the point of parody. Phil Ponce should just leave--one minute he's a television journalist, the next minute he's in Bedtime for Bonzo.

Thanks for the opportunity to rant. I hate what has happened to our public television station

[Logansquare]

11. P.S.--contribute to WYCC 20

It's a spunky little TV station without a lot of money, and they carry BBC news.
http://wycc.ccc.edu/