well played, MW

way to go montel!

awesome

MW 4 MJ

Montel speaks the truthiness. He was probably fired because he was an outspoken, pot smoking black man and Rupert's minions got the excuse they needed.

Of course he was fired, dead soldiers don't sell like a dead celebrity.

er, is. Any links to more about his firing? I am lazy (this morning)

Good for him.

More people should take a stand like he did. Yes, Heath Ledger died and that is sad. But he is not the only person that died that day. Leave him and his family alone and focus on something else, like a young man who died for his country and still remains nameless. (or lots of young men) How does this become news?

*applause*

I agree w/ the truthiness, but when getting paid to do a job, there's a time and a place . . .

dogdaze: I agree w/ the truthiness, but when getting paid to do a job, there's a time and a place . . .

He was there to promote a book, so he was probably not getting paid. They turned the interview away from his book and into commentary about Heath Ledger.

After seeing this, my respect for Montel has increased 100 fold.

Montel, you da' man!

can i be you when i grow up: dogdaze: I agree w/ the truthiness, but when getting paid to do a job, there's a time and a place . . .

He was there to promote a book, so he was probably not getting paid. They turned the interview away from his book and into commentary about Heath Ledger.

That being the case, he still chose poorly in his response. Now, he has one less place (and one that is very high in the ratings category) to promote his product.

I'm sure Montel would agree that everything in lfe is a trade-off of some sorts and it's all about striking the right balance that suits your needs and desires.

Montel does not care about promoting his book on morning talk shows. His own show is highly rated, and his book is mentioned 3 or 4 times a show, he is getting all the publicity he needs.

That being said, even if he was there to promote the book they are the ones who took it off subject, he just decided that if it was going to be off subject that it was going to be on his terms, not theirs.

I don't think Montel works for FOX. Anyway, good for him. I feel sorry for Heath Ledger and his loved ones, but let's put things in perspective for crying out loud.

Good job, Montel.

/don't feel sorry for heath ledger
//feel sorry for his kid he left behind
///feel sorry about the tragedies of this war

i loved the "but...but...but the ratings!!"

this reminds me of when owen wilson tried to commit suicide and told the media to leave him alone. what did the media do? parroted for a week about how he wanted to be left alone.

::facepalm::

montel wins.

Well, now we don't have Sylvia Browne and her witchiness trying to convince anyone of her "psychic powers". I really hope she dies soon.

We have to tear Montel down or the troops will have died for nothing.

Nabb1: I don't think Montel works for FOX.

FOX carried him in NY and LA. They dropped him, I wonder why. WaPost LINK

For those of us that have YouTube blocked at work, can we get a quick summary?

dogdaze
Now, he has one less place (and one that is very high in the ratings category) to promote his product.

FoxNews ratings are dropping like a brick right now - they're certainly not the powerhouse they used to be.

Feeding the beast.

We are the beast.

Spindle: For those of us that have YouTube blocked at work, can we get a quick summary?

Basically, Montel took the FOX hosts to task for making such a big deal out of one actor's death and barely taking about the deaths of US soldiers (as in, stating the soldier's name, spending 13 mins or so discussing his accomplishments and his life). He told them (and I am not quoting) that they ought to admit they were acting like a tabloid.

Never respected the man until today. He was pretty relentless.

Montel couldn't name the soldier who died yesterday either. BUT, he manned up and said he was disgusted with himself, too. His self-disgust is unnecessary because he TRIED to find out the name, which is more than any of the others on the panel did. Also, since when is Ledger an "icon"? Since he died? Is that all it takes?

Spindle
For those of us that have YouTube blocked at work, can we get a quick summary?

The segment was suppose to be about Montel's reaction to Heath Ledger's death, but he wanted to focus instead on the 28 soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since 1/1/08.

scseth: Feeding the beast.

We are the beast.

I think the beast is not too picky. It would eat whatever the media fed it, so why not feed it good food?

Celebrity gossip = McDonald's
Serious news = filet mignon

Wouldn't you rather have steak?

Spindle: For those of us that have YouTube blocked at work, can we get a quick summary?

Fox morning hosts: Lets talk about the death of Keith Ledger.
Montel: No, lets talk about the deaths everyone is ignoring. The troops.

Montel Williams also consistently has cold readers on his show.
So, Montel, aren't those dead soldiers still available for consulting?

Well done Mr. Williams...

This is so silly. The reason Ledger was the topic and not one (or more) of the soldiers who died the day before was because Ledger was known to millions of people worldwide, while a random soldier might be known to a few hundred if he is lucky.

Talking about Ledger on that day does not mean that Ledger is somehow more "important" than a dead soldier (he is obviously not). It is only about how many people the dead person is known to. Mission accomplished on Montel's part though, he has managed to appear to be noble and concerned while lacking critical thought.

/yes I've been to Iraq a few times

Control_this: Nabb1: I don't think Montel works for FOX.

FOX carried him in NY and LA. They dropped him, I wonder why. WaPost LINK

So do I. It wasn't this; it was probably ratings. I don't know about the LA station, but Montel had only been on Fox in NY for a year -- prior to that he was on Channel 9, sort of a regional "superstation" which has been independent, a WB and is now a MyNetwork affiliate.

Heath Ledger didn't volunteer to be a human shield.

I wouldn't cross montel, he'll blow up your house

Go completely off topic with political rhetoric on Fark: you're a threadshiatter at best, a troll at worst.

Do it on Fox News: you're a hero.

Glad we cleared that up.

duckpoopy: Heath Ledger didn't volunteer to be a human shield.

he volunteered to be a human pill container

I already respected him a lot for his stance on drugs especially medical marijuana. I guess now I can respect him even more.

Oh please people. there's a time and place for everything. Those who think TV news is a public service need to realize that news is a business and looks to make profits. Dead celebrities attract viewers.

I don't agree with the ethics, I just realize that Television is a business and we can't expect "ethics" from them.

Montel bit the hand that fed him. And that's ok if you're looking for something else to feed you.

/sort of drunk

He is right and he is wrong. He is right in the sense that troops dying is more important than Heath Ledger dying but what ISN'T more important than that. He is wrong in the sense that you cannot cover anything else. Montell is doing a show with a friggin psychic tomorrow. I mean come one

SardonicAvenger: Go completely off topic with political rhetoric on Fark: you're a threadshiatter at best, a troll at worst.

Do it on Fox News: you're a hero.

Glad we cleared that up.


It's Not News.. It's Fox

scseth: Feeding the beast.

We are the beast.

That blonde hosebeast pissed me off with that.

Did you notice how the video started? "Way too soon, a tragedy, a major one." About Heath Ledger.

Good for MW. Fark Fox news, all that assholes talk about is Iran this, Iran that....

24-hour news channels are vapid at 8pm. Add that to the complete Kindergarten nonsense that is morning news shows, and you get this.

I wonder what Montel was originally coming on to talk about before Heath died.

HERO tag required.

reminds me of when tommy Chong was asked for his insight on the Paris Hilton jail story months back.

Or Dave Chappelle's stand up bit about MTV getting Ja Rule's thoughts shortly after 9-11.

Why get a boring expert on the subject when you can get a name that people know and will tune in for!

Because ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc., NEVER have celebrity gossip programming.

/Anybody who pimps out Sylvia Brown as hard as he does doesn't merit the badge of 'journalist'.

4NSpy: reminds me of when tommy Chong was asked for his insight on the Paris Hilton jail story months back.

How sad is it that Montel Williams and Tommy Chong have shown exponentially more perspective on current events than the entire mainstream newsmedia?

Sorry, no kudos to Montel from me.

Here's a guy that features the crackpot Silvia Browne on his show about once a month - purely for ratings - then goes on Faux and lectures them about the media's fluff reporting for ratings???

SardonicAvenger: Go completely off topic with political rhetoric on Fark: you're a threadshiatter at best, a troll at worst.

Do it on Fox News: you're a hero.

Glad we cleared that up.

Because millions of people are watching you every time you post on FARK.

Actually... I kind of like the idea of you believing that.

Montel brought something to the surface...our society's desperate desire to know every single piece of information on the people we give celebrity status to...can you imagine a world where nobody gives a fark about Paris & Perez?

take down hollywood and its falsehoods, it would prolly solve global warming