RADAR Magazine extinguished in an Orgy of Anti-Free Speech Action!

As you may know, I subscribed to RADAR magazine, and regularly read its online edition. This was a truly fantastic magazine, with a really unique perspective and a fearless take on the world. They made a splash with a wonderful article about that lunitic Tom Cruise and his adherence to the bizarre Scientology Cult. Now, their backers have abandoned them in the face of pressure from some Hollywood assholes and, perhaps, the Scientologists who have proven themselves ruthless in protecting their cult and their people from any form of criticism. They are bastards through and through, and they disgust me.

[UPDATE: I have set up a separate blog: Save Radar!]

From The New York Post Online Edition:

December 16, 2005 -- DID Radar magazine's financial backers Mort Zuckerman and Jeffrey Epstein pull the plug on the scrappy mag because of pressure from their ultra-wealthy friends? Media insiders claim the glossy was canned after Radar ignored repeated warnings not to write about their patrons' powerful pals.

Over the last year, our sources claim, both Zuckerman and Epstein were besieged by calls from power players distressed over Radar's snarky coverage of them, including Hollywood's Mike Ovitz, American Media honcho David Pecker and secretive supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle. All three personally lobbied Zuckerman and Epstein to quash salacious stories, insiders claim.

One media source tells us: "Ron Burkle's lawyer, Marty Singer, threatened to sue them. And Burkle, who is a major investor in Barnes & Noble, had one of the biggest magazine distributors in the country call to tell them it wouldn't be in their best interest to write about Burkle after they reported a story about him hosting Michael Jackson at his house. Bill Clinton [a friend of Burkle and also Epstein] also called [Epstein] and demanded they not write about him and Jackson. They still did." Singer confirmed the legal threats against Radar to PAGE SIX and suggested there may be more litigation in the works.

One Radar staffer offered an outrageous conspiracy scenario: "The theory going around is that the Scientologists put the fear of Xenu [an evil space alien in the Scientology creed] into [Zuckerman and Epstein]. Scientologists have been digging into Epstein's and Zuckerman's private lives, and have thick files on both of them. Who knows what's in them?" Earlier this year, Radar published a scathing cover story about Tom Cruise and Scientology. A rep for the Church of Scientology dismissed the account as "a complete fabrication."

One power player who was left off the hook by Radar's shutdown was ICM boss Jeff Berg, who, insiders say, began calling [Zuckerman] after hearing he'd been pegged as the "most ineffective agent in Hollywood" in an upcoming cover story. The story was slated for the upcoming issue, which has been nixed.

A rep for Pecker tells us: "[Radar editor] Maer Roshan's a very talented guy and we wish him luck, but [Pecker] never made any calls about Radar." Ovitz's reps called the allegations "preposterous." Berg denies calling Zuckerman. Reps for Epstein, Zuckerman, Clinton and Burkle didn't return calls.

I am incredibly angry, especially as this comes on the heels of the almost-cancellation of Arrested Development. It seems that America has no use for original voices.

I honestly beleive that the CoS was behind this -- I believe the theory. Fuck you, "Church" of Scientology! You are a bunch of thieves and liars with some good lawyers. I can't wait for you to be publically exposed for hte bunch of fuckheads you are.

I will NEVER go to another Tom Cruise movie, ever.
[You can read about Cruise and Scientology here.]

And Bill Clinton is still a total asshole, but that should be news to no one.

I am sorry to be so emotional. As you know, my Ph.D. dissertation is on Free Speech in Massachusetts, 1920-1960, so for years I have been reading and writing about the myriad violations of free speech during the Cold War. I had hoped that we had moved beyond such times, but I did not take into account the power and influence of the wealthy and the corporations that back them. They are so scared of losing profit, they back down at the slightest hint of trouble. Unique voices are being squashed left and right in this country, especially after 9/11, but not only because of it. Our nation has become an oligarchy of wealth, and — worst of all — most Americans have swallowed their propaganda that we, too, can be one of the rich and famous! We forget, of course, that for there to be a wealthy class, there MUST be a poor class (or a finacially squeezed middle-class).

The corporations, those who run them, and so-called "media moguls" have no interest in free speech, in quality publications, or in anything beyond a bland retelling of the propaganda they spoon-feed us every day -- the tyranny of the "sound bite" and meaningless celebrity gossip. There's nothing wrong with gossip, but publications like RADAR routinely gave the story-behind-the-story, the hidden connections and meanings that gave real depth to an otherwise fluffy story meant to keep us all distracted from the realities of life under an oligarchy that is now bordering on fascism.

I'm so sorry to see you go, RADAR. You WILL be missed, by me and many like me. All the best to your writers and editors – you truly made a difference, however brief.

I am going to continue to update this post, and perhaps make new ones, as I calm down and consider this entire issue. It is an important one to me.