You don’t need a journalism degree to spot the partisan bent of most entertainment sites.
See how it works Variety, The Hollywood ReporterThe Wrap, Deadline, and Deadline are the main sources of breaking news. Better yet, see which stories they skip. It’s clear they see headlines through a progressive lens, although they don’t admit that up front.
This site says it aloud in its tag line, “The Right Take on Entertainment.” HiT’s mission exists, in large part, because the vast majority of Hollywood news has a robust, left-of-center, bent.
Screen Rant is the result.
The site was once more neutral with its content. While the website leans more towards the Left these days, it embraces woke ideas. It explains why it’s aghast that Netflix, the stumbling streaming site, released a manifesto earlier this month extolling free speech.
Netflix’s unorthodox move came in delayed response to the uproar over its 2021 comedy special, The closer.
Original jokes by Dave Chappelle that were tied to trans communities offend select progressives. Chappelle was rebuffed by a small number of Netflix workers, but Ted Sarandos, the CEO of Netflix refused to remove or censor it.
He instead rehired Chappelle to continue his comedy career and issued this statement earlier in the month.
Not everyone will like — or agree with — everything on our service. While every title is different, we approach them based on the same set of principles: we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what’s appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices. We, as employees, support Netflix’s principle of offering a variety of stories. Even if some are contrary to our personal values. No matter what your job title, it may be necessary to remove titles that you find harmful. If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.
The original Screen Rant story buries its disgust over Netflix’s decision deep in the story. The site’s Facebook page, however, states it upfront.
This is a pretty severe policy, even if it’s true.
It sparked an enormous backlash among its followers on Facebook. According to them, free speech and ideological diversity are important. Here’s a sampling of the responses:
- I think the staff needs to realize that it’s a streaming service company, which means it has ALL types of content. (top fan)
- They can’t be beholden to the squeaky minority who work for them.
- Might want to consult a better dictionary for the definition of ‘harsh.’
- Yeah asking people to act like adults is really harsh
- I love this! This should be adopted more often by companies. Recover from your sorrows and return to work.
- Yeah cause Disney’s response to the “Patental rights bill” has gone great for them….
- Good for Netflix. Just like content creators shouldn’t bow to Christian evangelicals, they shouldn’t bow to wokist ones either
- Harsh? That’s not harsh, if real, any job gives you that choice… To NOT allow you to quit would be harsh.. If you don’t like your job, then you don’t have to be there.. What kind of of job caters to everyone’s feelings? If you can’t or refuse to do your job, then leave.
A few commenters vaguely supported Screen Rant’s position. These were the extremist minority.
[Cross-posted from Hollywood in Toto]
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