Ring around Rosie

Rose O’Donnell is leaving ABC (US) TV programme The View in June. To most Kiwis, that news would probably be a big yawn, since most have probably never seen it. The programme airs in New Zealand several days (or weeks) after the US, at around 9am on Sky 1, one of the channels on the pay TV service Sky.

I’ve seen her on the show a few times, and I’ve heard podcasters talk about her, too. I always thought she was good entertainment and, on the shows I saw or heard about, I agreed with what she said.

However, to hear right wing and “moderate” bloggers tell the tale, she’s the devil incarnate. American right wingers in particular clearly hate her and have demanded she be fired; some have accused her of treason for daring to question Bush. Self-described “moderates” have expressed “embarrassment” at her performance, claiming she does more harm than good to the left.

Give me a break! America’s TV media and much of its print media is a cheering section for George Bush and his cronies, and it only takes a quick channel surf or click through newspaper websites to see that. Rosie dared to challenge Bush when few in the mainstream media would and, in so doing, provided much-needed balance for the right-wing bile that oozes from Fox, CNN and other MSM media.

Yes, her performance was sometimes brash, often strident, but American political discourse needs someone like her to counter the right wingers who do the exact same thing. I didn’t see her very often, but I was glad to know that someone in the MSM was challenging Bush and the right wing.

America voted and liked Rosie: The View’s ratings jumped after she came on the show, up 500,000 people so far this season. That’s the kind of success that networks and sponsors notice, but not necessarily what they respond to. In the current climate, it’s difficult to imagine that anyone like Rosie—even a toned-down version—will be seen anytime soon in America’s mainstream broadcast media, and the country will be poorer for it.