freeSpeech Is Unfortunately Free
CBS News has a new segment called "freeSpeech," proving that any bland phrase can be sexed up by running it together with some crazyCapitalization. Roughly the same format and tone as print op-eds or "My Take" segments on cable access, the first two freeSpeeches concerned secret CIA prisons and Darfur genocide. Continuing the weighty theme, the latest bit was all about cell phones in schools. Opera singer and alleged actress — and mom! — Joanne Lessner makes it clear her son will always have a cell phone for safety purposes, regardless of New York authorites' contention that student cell phones are used to "cheat on exams, sell drugs, and organize fights." We sure hated all those sloppy, unorganized fights back in junior high; we didn't have Dodgeball to point out whose nearby ass needed kicking. Regardless, CBS producer Marc Rosenwasser intones that the true scope of freeSpeechers chosen "will only reveal itself in its fullness over time." As to using a less pundit-fabulous subject like Lessner, Rosenwasser explains, "We're happy to get her on, because we'd like to sprinkle in as often as we can, for lack of a better word, regular citizens." Such a distasteful phrase, that "regular citizens." If only there was a better word.
