Oprah Turns on James Frey

First, Katie Couric caves under the withering heat of my commentary, and now Oprah Winfrey has backtracked on her initial defense of A Million Little Pieces author James Frey, asking him during a live broadcast of her show today to tell why "he felt the need to lie."

“It is difficult for me to talk to you because I really feel duped ... but more importantly I feel that you betrayed millions of readers,” Winfrey said to Frey and as quoted in an Associated Press story today.

Oprah's confrontation aired live in some markets, but Tampa Bay area viewers won't see it until 4 p.m. today, when Oprah airs on WFLA-Ch. 8.

Despite the fact that Pieces has been a best-seller for many months, no prominent journalists checked the book against public records until TheSmokingGun.com revealed Jan. 8 that Frey's stories about his drug-fueled criminal career were not supported by any official police reports or court documents.

Winfrey called into a damage-control appearance the author made on softball interview show Larry King Live to defend him, calling the controversy "much do about nothing" and touting the "essential truth" of his book.

None of that forgiving attitude was evident today, as Winfrey admitted regret for making the call and "leaving the impression the truth is not important." Which is, astute readers will note, the point I made four days ago in Sunday's newspaper.

What I love most -- beyond the fact that she got Frey to admit, finally, that he did lie in the book -- is that Oprah has once again figured out how to wrap doing the moral thing tightly inside doing something to help her media empire.

Because she admitted her mistake and confronted Frey on HER show, ensuring SHE would get the ratings and newscasts would endlessly play clips of HER show, instead of Larry King.

Hey, at least she's admitting a mistake, That's more than our president will do.

Public Access Under Attack in Hillsborough

The long-suffering folks who offer public access TV services in Hillsborough County are under seige again, this time from Bright House Networks, which doesn't want to fork out the thousands of dollars it takes to maintain the county's public access TV channels.

Yeah, I know you don't watch them, even if you live in Hillsborough. I don't watch the ones in Pinellas, either.

But cable companies get the government to use eminent domain to secure rights to string their cable throughout communities, so I think they should give something back. Providing the public with one or two channels and some chintzy studios to make bargan basement shows seems a small price to pay for the fiber optic lines which make their business possible.

Of course, with the increasingly erratic Hillsborough County commissioners more focused on denying gay people rights and building athletic facilities no one needs, they may go along with Bright House just to keep their flacks from calling the office too often.

Supporters are asking fans to show up for the next BOCC meeting, Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. at the 2nd floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa.

Comments

[Anonymous]

first, outhouse networks already has competition in hillsborough county. it's called directv and dish network.cable companies are the biggest thieves this side of insurance companies. i mean, when that medium's customer service is so brutal it takes (literally) an act of congress for intervention, what can i say?well, that's why i have directv. better quality, more channels, less money. what a concept!(oh, and nfl sunday ticket is nice too!)what i would do if i was the hillsborough county commission is tell outhouse: sure, you can remove the municipal channels so long as you replace them with additional channels people want. i understand a lot of football fans pine for the nfl network -- which i receive on my directv. that, for example, would be one channel to replace an unwatched channel.btw eric, aren't the video streams of most of these municipal meetings available on the internet?

[Eric Deggans]

Dunno if there are video streams of municipal meetings. Referencing my earlier post, it's not so much about getting municipal meetings or any specific content. It's more about the ethic of bright house providing the public way to express itself on TV in exchange for the access they receive for fiber opic lines. I think that is far more of a contribution to the community than another sports channel or movie channel...

[Khan of the Wastelands]

well, that's why i have directv. better quality, more channels, less money. what a concept!(oh, and nfl sunday ticket is nice too!)Imagine living in Canada where they get NFL Sunday ticket on Cable, Dish Network, Direct TV, or just about any other media outlet you can imagine.Only in the US are the NFL and Direct TV allowed collusion privelages.How ironic that in the "Land of the Free" we have fewer options than our neighbors to the north.....

[Anonymous]

ah, but directv is illegal in canada (don't know about dish network). of course, that doesn't stop one from setting up a dish in the privacy of a back yard.they just have to have a forwarding address from, say, memphis.i think, however -- though not sure -- the canadian gubbermint has an in-house dish package, not unlike the canadian satalite radio (not sure of the name off-hand, but xm radio has an "agreement" with them).but point well-taken. as for municipalities and video, i know pinellas county board of commissioners streams video of its meetings.if this is the norm, i'd be willing to bet cable subscribers would much rather have those virtually unwatched channels removed if it would save them money on their bloated monthly cable bills, or if they were replaced by something, say, more than two dozen people watch.in the spirit of full disclosure, those channels are just one of many reasons i went directv. i mean, that's what the st. pete times is for, isn' it, to tell me what happened at those ungodly boring meetings?

[Rick Gershman]

Hey, Eric. Now there's some political action committee--or a similar animal--paying for commercials that are seen by Hillsborough County Brighthouse subscribers. I can't recall the specifics, but some dude in a suit gets on there talking about how Brighthouse wants to add government channels and raise fees, and how we as good citizens need to tell Hillsborough commissioners that we hate useful, educational programming and want 17 more channels of hot chicks in bikinis jumping off cliffs for Joe Rogan's amusement. Or something like that.I'll keep an eye out for the commercial; it's pimping some Web site, but I cannot recall the name right now.

[Khan of the Wastelands]

Direct TV has a channel all the time pimping it's fight against state taxes on their service.My "Favorite" little portion of my bill for Direct TV, Cable, phone, whatever is the so- called "Convenience Fee"This is a charge in the neighborhood of $3-$5 that has no real explanation whatsoever.I own my own business as well. I'm going to start slipping "Convenience Fees" onto my invoices and making them incredibly convoluted and see how long I stay in business.I recall my old phone bill in Minneapolis. When I signed up, I was told that my bill was $20 for a no frills, basic phone service. After taxes and fees my bill came out to $45 and only $10 or so of that were taxes. The other $15 were hidden fees slipped into my bill.

[Anonymous]

i believe bh networks is about to get some competition from verizon in hillzboro county, and not a second too soon. i see yr point that bh owes something for the right to use public row, yet those lousy local channels dont seem like the proper payment, even though that's become the industry standard. again, pay per channel is the way to go in the future. forcing this onto the cable industry through customer pressure is the way to get it done.

[Anonymous]

"Convenience Fee"LOL ain't that the truth. but you know what khan, i'd rather pay that as opposed to the "pleasure" of subsidizing rock riley's salary!