The Battalion
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Springer under attack
CHICAGO (AP) — All of a sudden, it is Jerry
Springer who’s taking the hits, not the guests on his
fists-flying talk show.
Rolling Stone magazine and a TV entertainment
show are reporting that the fights are about as real as
a pro wrestling match, a charge the show denies. And
the NBC station that brought Springer to the big
leagues has scraped the show off the bottom of its
corporate shoes amid rising criticism that it has de
generated into a pornographic slugfest.
Springer has a history of profiting from sleaze. And
as media watchers doubted that his top-rated day
time talk show will suffer from the mmmmmmmmmmmmm
allegations, Chicagoans braced for
a double dose of “The Jerry
Springer Show” on a new station.
“Nobody ever lost any money un
derestimating people’s taste,” said
Christopher Sterling, a George Wash
ington University media scholar.
The show “is like wrestling,”
Sterling said. “The whole thing is a
put-up job.”
On Thursday, Chicago’s WFLD-TV
owned by the Fox Broadcasting Co.,
quickly snatched up the syndicated show in a multiyear
deal that will air it not once, but twice daily.
A day earlier WMAQ-TV said it was ending its con
tract with Springer, whose profile the NBC station
tried to raise a year earlier in a brief but disastrous
‘Nobody ever lost any
money underestimat
ing peoples taste.”
Christopher Sterling
Media scholar
stint as a news commentator.
The WMAQ announcement came just hours be
fore the syndicated show “Extra” was scheduled to air
a report saying that many of Springer’s fights are
staged and guests are coached. On Friday, Rolling
Stone hits the newsstands with similar allegations.
Show spokesperson Jim Benson denied the alle
gations and said the show has “strict production
guidelines and policies.”
Suzanne Muir, a Canadian restaurant owner who
helped staged a high-profile hoax on the Springer
show three years ago, said reports of staged shows are
mmmmmmmmmmmmm hardly shocking and she doubted
that viewers care.
“You can tell who his audience
is by who he’s playing to,” she said.
“These people have just come
from a fresh cockfight or a tractor
pull.”
The Springer show, which fea
tured such topics as “I Strip With
My Family,” had been broadcast in
Chicago daily from WMAQ’s down-
town studios. It will continue to be
produced there under the new
deal with WFLD-TV.
Larry Wert, WMAQ’s new president and general
manager, said only that he determined the show did
not fit with his station’s goals of making “the strongest
connection with the community.”
What's Up
Friday, April 24
Alpha Phi Omega: Meet to go visit
Crestview Retirement Home at 6:30
p.m. at Crestview.
Student Y: We will meet at 3:45
p.m. at Koldus to go to Boys & Girls
Club.
Episcopal Student Center: There
will be a celebration of holy eu-
charist followed by free dinner at
6:15 p.m. on Sunday at 902 George
Bush. Call Father Mark at 696-0774
for more details.
Environmental Issues Committee:
Earth Week will be celebrated all day
at Rudder Fountain with booths, free
T-shirts, bands, and more. Call
Sarah at 847-8446 for details.
Alpha Phi Omega: There will be a
blood drive at Rudder Fountain and
Sbisa from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 25
Pre-Vet Society: There will be a Dog
and Car Wash at the Long John Sliv
er’s on Texas Avenue to benefit the
Brazos Animal Shelter and Grey
hound Track. Call Jennifer Sharpes
at 847-8415 for more details.
Monday, April 27
Officers’ Christian Fellowship: Bible
study on how to live a Christian life
in the military/Corps of Cadets will
be held at 7:45 p.m. in the Military
Science Building room 108. Call Tim
at 847-1730 for details.
Alpha Phi Omega: Meet to go to
Girl’s Club at 3:30 p.m. in 133
Koldus.
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship:
On-campus Bible studies will be
held. Contact David at 847-4264 for
location and further details.
Fellowship of Christian Cowboys:
FCC will hold a Bible study, prayer
and fellowship meeting at Pearce
Pavilion on George Bush Doctor from :
8 to 9 p.m. Call Jay or Andy at 825- !
2716 for details.
Catholic Students Association:
There will be a praise and worship ;
session from 7:30 to 8:30 at St.
Mary’s Catholic Church and a gen
eral meeting at 9 p.m. in the St.
Mary’s Student Center-Main Room
every Monday for the rest of the se
mester.
What’s Up is a Battalion service that lists
non-profit student and faculty events and
activities. Items should be submitted no
later than three days In advance of the de
sired run date. Application deadlines and
notices are not events and will not
be run in What’s Up. If you have any
questions, please call the news
room at 845-3313.
^Battalion
Tiffany Inbody, Editor in Chief
Helen Clancy, Copy Chief
Brad Graeber, Visual Arts Editor
Robert Smith, City Editor
Jeremy Furtick, Sports Editor
Jeff Webb, Sports Editor
James Francis, Aggielife Editor
Mandy Cater, Opinion Editor
Ryan Rogers, Photo Editor
Chris Huffines, Radio Producer
Sarah Goidston, Radio Producer
Dusty Moer, Web Editor
Aaron Meier, Night News Editor
News: Hie Battalion news department is managed by students at
Texas A&M University in the Division of Student Publications, a unit of
the Department of Journalism. News offices are in 013 Reed
McDonald Building. Newsroom phone: 845-3313; Fax: 845-2647; E-
mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu; Website: http://battalion.tamu.edu
Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or
endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display
advertising, call 845-2696. For classified advertising, call 845-0569.
Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald, and office hours are 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678.
Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entities each Texas
A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. Mail subscrip
tions are $60 per school year, $30 for the fall or spring semester and
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The Baitauwi (ISSN #1055-4726) is published daily, Monday through
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during the summer session (except University holidays and exam peri
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Battalion, 015 Reed McDonald Building, Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX 77843-1111.
HELP US SAVE
Free Jason’s Deli delivery
after 4 PM with Student I.D.
The Politically Correct Alternative.
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United States, and is at the top of the endangered foods list.
Please help save the pizza by making a conscious and politically
correct decision at your next meal:
Call Jason’s Deli.
Not only will you be working to save pizza from extinction, you’ll
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Friday •April;
Insurance system nei
fixing, commissioner
m
AUSTIN (AP) — In the last traffic
jam you suffered through, as many
as one of four motorists around you
was illegally driving without insur
ance. Texas Insurance Commis
sioner Elton Bomer believes the
number can be slashed.
Bomer on Thursday recom
mended that state lawmakers
adopt a program to randomly sur
vey Texas drivers for proof of insur
ance. Those that could not prove
they had coverage would face fines
and suspended licenses plates.
The program, operating in Illi
nois since 1994, has reduced the
number of uninsured drivers there
significantly, Bomer said.
“I think it is a good system. Any
time you can bring something
down from 17 percent to 4.4 per
cent that’s pretty strong,” he said of
the Illinois program, run by the Illi
nois Secretary of State.
In addition to adopting such a
program, Bomer said Texas law
makers should consider a com
plete overall of auto insurance
laws. He said moving away from
the current system, in which dri
vers who cause damage pay for it,
to a “no-fault” system would save
consumers money.
In no-fault systems, operated by
more than a dozen states, insurance
companies pay their customers for
damages and injuries no matter
who caused them. Drivers without
insurance in those systems have
limited options for recovering for
their damages.
“I believe Texans would em
brace a no-fault system if it re
duced rates,” Bomer said. “1 be
lieve a good no-fault system would
bring down rates and I believe it
Painting fanatic
should be in the law,
Lawmakers could s
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makers, however, void
that a no-fault systems
rectly reduce the nunfe
sirred motorists.
Bomer agreed. Bu::
fault would reduce in:
and that could getm
purchase coverage.
“Affordability is
added.
Insurance indusin
said they would like!
both ideas.
“Our thing is to get!
of uninsured drivers d
Jerry Johns, presidem
western insuranceInfon:
vice, an industry group.
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Lindsay Maxwell, a junior anthropology major, paints the face of Melanie Krause, a senior geneticsn
the MSC on Thursday..
Apply for The Battalion Today
Application due: Friday, April 24, by 8 p.m.
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V.
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