Tuesday, February 6, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
LOS ANGELES — There's something satisfying about hearing a television network say it's sorry, it goofed, it will try to do better next time.
NBC's apology was unnecessary
Big companies and institutions generally avoid such admissions. Networks especially are known for trying to kick even routine mistakes under the carpet.
In Law & Order, the wife of a dot-com millionaire dies after being caught up in a rampage by a Hispanic mob, and a vowe Brazilian man is convicted in the crime.
The Associated Press
Manuel Mirabal, head of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, was among the Hispanic leaders who extracted NBC's statement that it neglected "offending the Latino community" and would spike the episode.
The show's creator and executive producer, Dick Wolf, swiftly denounced NBC as having "caved in to the demands of a special interest group" and setting a "dangerous precedent."
The episode in question was loosely based on mass assaults on women and girls that occurred in New York's Central Park after last year's Puerto Rican Day parade.
Given that, it seems NBC should be commended for its response to criticism of its Jan. 24 Law & Order episode. NBC apologized to Hispanic leaders for the drama about violence surrounding New York's Puerto Rican Day parade and said the episode wouldn't air again.
In this case, however, NBC confessed to a mistake it didn't make, forcing the worthy *Law and Order* to take an unfair hit for television's miserable record of racial insensitivity — and putting a bull's eye on bold programming.
"Every Puerto Rican shown in that show was portrayed negatively as a criminal, as a delinquent, as someone who abuses women," Mirabal said in an interview.
That's a lot of airtime to give a producer with faulty judgment. But the truth is that NBC has allowed Wolf's series to be unfairly condemned.
The fact that Law & Order is on this hot seat is ironic. The drama has become NBC's equivalent of McDonald's — a franchise that includes Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the upcoming Law & Order III: Criminal Intent.
Mirabal accused the show of distorting real events (the men arrested in the sexual attacks included non-Hispanics and no deaths occurred) and called it defamatory.
The series does not take a rose-colored approach; the parade episode did depict a Hispanic mob and killer. But it also featured a savvy Hispanic defense attorney and used the character to underscore racially oriented political pressure.
The network's guilty plea in the Law & Order case was entered as broadcasters face increasing pressure from civil rights groups to increase diversity in their programming and in hiring. But letting one of its best series become a whipping boy can only weaken NBC's position.
Crossword
ACROSS
1 Tableland
5 Head wrap
10 Tidy
14 Press
15 Vietnamese capital
16ommade in arm
17 Deposit deposit
18 Duck down
19 Sundial number
20 Frosty, e.g.
21 Mariners
24 Com serving
26 Contagious
27 T follower?
28 Birthday party popper
30 Tarantino film,
“___Fliction”
32 Open shoe
35 Silver-gray color
36 Not well
37 Put on gloves
38 Delfinite article
39 Greek letter
40 Blood conduit
41 Kittenish comment
42 Marceau and Dichamp
43 Walks in water
45 Tips
47 Plaything
48 Long for
49 Boat-puller’s route
53 Roberts University
54 Equip with natural gifts
55 Wardrobe
58 Head of France
59 Buster
60 Home of “Cabin in the Sky”
61 Lynic poems
62 Use profanity
63 Spice film
2/8/01
© 2019 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
DOWN
1 Fail to hit
2 Poetic name for
lore
3 By oneself
4 Belgian diamond
center
5 Cut sheep's wool
6 Biblical slayer
7 Common conjunction
8 Fish eggs
9 White House VIP
10 Southwestern tribe member
11 Got rid of
12 Foreigner
13 Binding
14 Table protector
15 Pansian school
15 Adults
16 Birch relatives
17 Roasting rod
18 Hawaiian dance
19 Light up
19 Good-humored ridicule
21 Wizards
24 Oxford or wingtip
23 Chops
27 bleance
24 Decorated centerpiece for 5/1
Solutions to yesterday's puzzle
43 Low joints 51 Author
44 Holy cowl  Morrison
45 Finish record 52 Cops, to
46 Rowed  criminals
47 Eiffel, for one 55 At this time
49 Forum wear 56 Immediate
50 Not up yet owed
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