Most Americans are well aware that Hollywood leans to the left end of the political spectrum. However, for those who still question Hollywood’s penchant for liberal politics, the latest Emmy nominations should erase any such doubt.
On August 6, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced its nominees for the 41st Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. In a press release, NATAS said, “As we continue to innovate and honor the best in our industry, we are for the first time honoring our news and documentary communities with distinct ceremonies … We will honor those professionals that consistently deliver crucial, clear and factual reporting so critical during these unprecedented times.”
Pardon my French, but that is a bunch of bulls***. After perusing the list of Emmy nominees for news and documentaries, one thing is crystal clear: Hollywood only nominates news networks and documentaries with a decidedly leftist agenda.
Just look no further than the fact that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was nominated for an Emmy for her short film, “Art of the Green New Deal.” Upon hearing the news, AOC immediately tweeted, “So... while 2020 is highly unpredictable, I *definitely* did not expect to be nominated for an Emmy Award for our Green New Deal project with @theintercept, @mollycrabapple, @NaomiAKlein & others. Rather shocked & very grateful.”
AOC, trust me, you are not the only one who did not expect that you would be nominated for an Emmy. I am just as shocked as you are, if not more.
Yet, should I be all that shocked that a socialist congresswoman would be celebrated by Hollywood for making a seven-minute film about climate change? Of course not. That is par for the course these days in Tinseltown.
Just in case you were wondering, AOC’s film will face some stiff competition. AOC’s pet project is up against “Tiller and Beyond: Abortion Wars in Kansas” from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, “Equal Play” from The New York Times, “Detained by a Dictator” from Real America with Jorge Ramos, and last but not least, “‘Infested,’ He Says” from CNN’s New Day Weekend.
Yeah, Hollywood really went out on a limb in making sure its nominations covered the full spectrum of political philosophy. Not!
Actually, Hollywood went well out of its way to guarantee that its nominees only spouted the all-too-typical Leftist ideology. If you think this is hyperbolic, consider the breakdown of media entities that garnered nominations—and those that did not.
PBS was the leader of the pack with 48 nominations. This was followed by CNN with 30. Rounding out the top 10 were HBO with 27, Univision with 18, CBS with 17, Netflix with 15, The New York Times with 14, NBC with 12, ABC and FX Networks with nine each, and Al Jazeera International USA with six.
Shockingly, FOX News did not garner a single nomination. In fact, the only media entity to receive a nomination that could be portrayed as right-of-center was The Wall Street Journal, which got two. For comparison, MSNBC received five nominations. Even CNN en Espanol (three) and VOX (two) received nominations!
For decades, Hollywood has trended in a liberal direction. However, it sure seems like those in La-La-Land have abandoned any notion of objectivity in deciding who gets Emmy nominations for news and documentaries these days. Unlike FOX News’ slogan, Hollywood is far from “fair and balanced.”
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is an editor at The Heartland Institute.