Those who regularly watch Internet porn and those who, um, hear about it are no doubt aware of the relatively new Naked News. The burgeoning company, www.nakednews.com, presents the news much like CNN or MSNBC does. The only major difference is that the anchors slowly take off their clothes while they read the news.
The Web site, which began several years ago as a free site, has been under constant attack by the FCC and numerous religious groups. Its existence has been threatened more than once, and pressure from the U.S. government forced Naked News to move into pay-for-viewing status. Since then, however, the world has opened up for the group and it has now moved into actual television broadcasting, albeit in Canada.
Naked News has been condemned by the Religious Right, but perhaps the more valid criticism is the concern that Naked News trivializes the actual news. After all, it seems somewhat disrespectful to discuss terrorism and war while taking off your bra.
Naked News does its best to avoid sensitive topics. Critics, however, are misled if they believe that Naked News serves as an actual news outlet. The show does not claim to do any reporting beyond the mere recitation of news events that are collected from the Associated Press wire, and it eliminates a news story if it does not entertain viewers. In this aspect, it is no different from other news outlets that entertain viewers, such as Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" or the entire Fox News channel. Those who receive their information about world events from Naked News are not likely to watch it for the news but for pure enjoyment. So Naked News can claim immunity from the rigorous standards applied to traditional journalism.
With that issue settled, the Naked News issue falls into the old pornography debate. Is it morally corrupt to watch someone strip, or is it a healthy expression of liberated sexuality?
One thing is certain: the argument that Naked News presents women as sexual objects and thus contributes to our society's degradation of women does not hold much water. Naked News has begun hiring male reporters to equalize its sexual objectification. Although the number of viewers during the male reporters segments is dramatically lower than the segments featuring the female reporters, one cannot say Naked News did not try.
Ultimately, Naked News should be viewed for what it is -- a creative expression of the endless fascination we have with human sexuality. Let the explanations for why Naked News is a legitimate news source fall to those whose girlfriends have caught them watching it.
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