VP Ted Goes "Old School" In Advocating for Alcohol Regulatory Reforms

Give me that Ol' Time Editorializing (and a little bit of Gunsmoke)

I am juuuuuust old enough to recall a time when television consisted of five possibilities: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and a local independent TV station. Each of the three broadcast options had a local affiliate that ran old movies, TV show reruns, local sports, and public interest programming before the network took over in the evenings with national news, followed by the likes of Gunsmoke, I Dream of Jeanie, The Sonny & Cher Show and such.

One of the interesting features of this pre-cable/Internet age was the way local television affiliates addressed political issues. They each had local news broadcasts but they also had something else that seem to have gone by the wayside today: The “For Your Consideration” editorial delivered by the station owner or General Manager.

Generally, the way this small bit of advocacy worked was some old gentlemen would stand in front of the camera with the station logo in the background and a headline slug in the lower left side of the screen describing the topic being addressed and he would dispassionately deliver an opinion on local happenings: “It’s time to do your civic duty and vote” or “Skirts above the knee in school are a distraction and can’t be allowed” or “these demonstrations cause chaos and confusion in the mids of citizens” or “We must support the efforts to get to the bottom of corruption in state government.”

These were influential interruptions to the usual programming on local television primarily because opinions were rare on local affiliates and because so many eyes were trained on so few viewing options. Moreover, it was a time when a larger well of trust existed among viewers. Today, if you want to hear and see an opinion on infrastructure spending delivered 24/7 by Socialist Dog Lovers of the Midwest, there is likely a channel or network for that perspective.

This history was swirling in my mind the other day when I saw a clip of Ted Fortenberry, VP & General Manager of WLBT-3, the NBC affiliate out of Jackson, Mississippi, standing in front of a camera and advocating for the state of Mississippi to get out of the alcohol wholesale business.

Ted was given no more than 30 seconds to make his point. So, he gets right to it:

“If you want a case study on government ineptitude, just look at how Mississippi has managed its Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) operations…

“When it comes to ABC operations, the entire system needs reform. The majority of Mississippians want to purchase wine in grocery stores, but state leaders continue to cave to the liquor store lobbyists instead of following the will of the people.

“The state legislature is protecting liquor stores instead of letting the free market determine winners and losers, which is the way every other business must operate if they are going to survive and thrive.

“Competition is good.

“Instead of stifling competition, change the law so liquor stores can have as many locations as they want. Isn’t that the way capitalism is supposed to work?”

You can view VP Ted’s “Consider This” editorial by clicking on the image below:

VP Ted is not just frustrated with the way Mississippi runs alcohol distribution in the state. It happens that Mississippi is considering privatizing the alcohol wholesale business and getting the state out of the role of supplying retailers and restaurants with wine and spirits. The state controls the wholesaling of wine and spirits and charges a 27% excise tax on a per bottle basis. If HB 512 becomes law, Mississippi alcohol wholesaling would be privatized and the excise tax would be lowered to 18%. That’s what VP Ted is supporting with his on-air editorial.

Now, of course, Mississippi’s alcohol wholesaling system should be privatized. Say what you will about wholesalers—and I certainly am willing to do that—but a corrupt, state-mandated, private wholesale tier is preferable to a corrupt, state-run, unnecessary, free market-stifling wholesale tier any day.

Of course, the problem for VP Ted and for Mississippi alcohol reformers is that cynicism is the rule of the day and a profound lack of trust exists among news consumers. We wonder what VP Ted has to gain by taking this opinion. We all know that too often reform is highly influenced by the march of dollars from the regulated to those creating the regulations. For my part, I commend VP Ted for stepping up and addressing this seemingly mundane topic for all his hundreds of viewers to see.