WASHINGTON (AP) -- CBS is the latest target in the campaign William Bennett and Sen. Joseph Lieberman are waging against images of sex and violence in the media and entertainment industry.
CBS received the cultural critics' second "Silver Sewer" award Monday for airing a "60 Minutes" broadcast of euthanasia by Dr. Jack Kevorkian and shock jock Howard Stern's raunchy television show."CBS, by virtue of two major decisions this year, has become as much of a standard-shredder as a standard-setter today," said Lieberman, D-Conn.
The awards, intended to identify "cultural polluters," are part of the duo's efforts to reduce sexual and violent content in music, video and computer games and on TV. Bennett was a top official in the Reagan and Bush administrations.
The first "Silver Sewer" was given in March to Seagram Inc. for supporting Jerry Springer's talk show and to shock-rocker Marilyn Manson.
Don Hewitt, executive producer of "60 Minutes," said the show polled viewers and found them evenly split on whether the broadcast of a video showing the death of 52-year-old Thomas Youk of Michigan by lethal injection was right or wrong. Kevorkian said he administered the lethal dose of potassium chloride.
But among people who watched it, most were in favor, Hewitt said.
"The fact that it is such a close call among the American people tells me that it is a ripe subject for debate, and if this has put it into the national debate, I don't have any problem with that," he said.
Hewitt also accused Bennett and Lieberman of seeking headlines.
"For them to link us with Howard Stern just shows they are desperate to get their name in the paper," he said.