'Entertainment' Show Promotes Lefty Whale-Saving Cause

“Access Hollywood's” nightly fare is usually devoted to the latest celebrity rumors, box office bombs, and red carpet fashion. But on January 2nd, the TV tabloid became a broadside for a liberal environmental cause.


Access Hollywood gave glowing coverage – and one minute, 17 seconds of air time -- to “Save the Whales Again,” a pet cause of spokesperson and teen actress Hayden Panettiere.  In the first 10 minutes of the show, “Access” played a combined 15 video clips and still shots of whales, many of which displayed the bloody creatures being dragged by their tails. The audio that accompanied the photos included a clip of Panettiere calling on children to “talk to your parents, organize your friends, stop this cruel and needless slaughter.” Because after all, “It's our future, take a stand,” she pleaded.


Actor Pierce Brosnan was also featured in the segment, blaming our government for ignoring the will of the people. “And even though over 75 percent of Americans oppose whaling, our government is doing nothing to stop the slaughter,” he said.


This isn't the first time that Access Hollywood has given gleaming coverage to Panettiere's cause. On November 1, 2007, “Access” donated three minutes and 13 seconds of the 30 minute show to her protest against Japanese whale fishermen. It called her a “real life hero” who told “Access” her story while “fighting back tears.”


What “Access” didn't mention, either in 2007 or on January 2nd, is that Panettiere has been involved with activists of the extreme Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, believes that humans are “acting like a virus” on Earth, that humans are a “disease” and that “we need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion.”

Erin Brown is an intern at the Culture and Media Institute, a division of the Media Research Center.