"Dean Ing - Silent Thunder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ing Dean)

We've been in office five months now and they haven't brought the media council to a
vote. Do you want an end to abortion and pornography and ecology freaks hamstringing
good old American industry, or don't you?

But they won't be voting on those, Harry said.

Kalvin took a long breath, looked away, took a sip of his watered bourbon. Then, slowly
and carefully, he said, Harry, you won't get those programs enacted as long as the media
is free to say absolutely anything that comes into its head, including things that amount
to sedition. What have I been saying for the last twenty minutes?

For the last twenty minutes, Harry Rand had been thinking about many things: which
negligee Bea was wearing tonight, which talk show might have the most interesting
guests, whether he should have liposuction in the fall? things like that. Surely a man
who was devoting twelve hours a day to promoting a more decent Godfearing America
ought to be allowed to let his brain rest before bedtime.

But no-o-o. Still, there was absolutely no question that his career depended on listening
to Walter Kalvin. Walt even saw to such final details as microphone checks for press
conferences, which irked Evan Showers, the Presidential Press Secretary, no end. And
every time, every blessed time, Harry publicly proposed some program that Walt had
warned him against, the response was lackluster at best. At worst, it was hostile. Lord,
Lord, how your flock can jostle you at times! You've been saying you want to control the
media, Harry sighed.

Kalvin's hand went up quickly, like that of a cop directing traffic. No, no; one word you
never use about media is 'control,' Harry. I mean, everybody loves you, that's what I
realized fifteen years ago, that's how we got here; but by everybody, I don't mean
everybody. Think how a Jew reacts to a swastika, and you'll get some idea how a
newspaper editor or a TV commentator reacts to the idea of control. And unless I'm very
much mistaken, the kind of person who tends not to love you is a cynic, and that's
exactly the sort of person the media is full of.

Don't you mean, 'are full of'? Media is plural, isn't it?

Another long pause. Are full of, Harry. I don't care, Harry. Harry, can we just? just focus
on the problem here? The only grammar rule I'm interested in right now is that you
never use the word 'control' in a sentence dealing with media. What you talk about
instead is responsibility. We've had responsible media during wartime, more or less. And
we've had temporary commissions, federal bodies with the teeth to chew ass, during
those times.

What you want, Harry, is teeth that aren't temporary.
We don't call it a task force or a commission, that sounds too much like, ah?

Mustn't say it, said the President, smiling, reaching for his own highball.

Right. You call it a council. The image of a deliberative body, one that mulls things over
and recommends things. Only this one can levy a fine? pick a number? or jerk a
broadcasting license. That, Harry, is how you get a bunch of uncontr? unGodly media