Tom Weinberg reads the Wall Street Journal – Bill Tabb reads U.S. News and World Report

Two pieces by Paper Tiger Television: Tom Weinberg reads the Wall Street Journal (1982) and Bill Tabb reads U.S. News and World Report (1982).

00:50Copy video clip URL Intro: Tom Weinberg Reads the Wall Street Journal April 20, 1982. Weinberg reads the paper on the train.

02:30Copy video clip URL Weinberg introduces Paper Tiger crew and explains that the Wall Street Journal is only about money, then browses through the headlines. Skip Blumberg explains that he doesn’t read the WSJ.

05:00Copy video clip URL Weinberg talks about business and finance section vs. world news, surveys articles in business and finance.

07:00Copy video clip URL Weinberg talks about Alexander Haig’s move from the military into the government and then into the private sector.

07:50Copy video clip URL Weinberg switches to world news and discusses decisions to put some topics in worldwide news and some in financial news, comparing Supreme Court cases over private schools and the post office listed in separate sections.

08:55Copy video clip URL Weinberg talks inaudibly in background while camera focuses on his business apparel.

09:35Copy video clip URL Weinberg talks about incredulity of front page news focusing on 150 Salvadoran Jewish families, then tosses off the front page and shows the actual financial pages, listing off reporting companies and explaining some of the information.

13:20Copy video clip URL Weinberg talks about price increases relating to Ralston-Purina, and how prices go up seemingly with no purpose, while companies seem to break even or lose money.

15:00Copy video clip URL Weinberg explains importance of reading the WSJ: it’s everywhere. Argues its merits over the New York Times.

16:55Copy video clip URL Discussion of ads in the paper. Talk about the importance of the markets remaining the same so progress can be measured.

18:15Copy video clip URL Weinberg goes through WSJ “gossip” column as train gets into Grand Central Station. Camera shows station and commuters everywhere reading papers/magazines.

22:38Copy video clip URL Weinberg goes through editorial, “Taxation Without Representation.” Editorial discusses shifting of power of taxation from congress to executive branch and gives history of taxation in America. Weinberg explains the message: don’t worry about where money goes, just spend it. Describes WSJ as “beyond Republican… it defines Conservatism… Saving all the money with the people who have the money now.”

29:00Copy video clip URL End Credits, list of show costs while Weinberg reads behind blues tune.

30:00Copy video clip URL “It’s 8:30. Do you know where your brains are?” Paper Tiger Presents: Bill Tabb reads US News and World Report May 26, 1982.”

31:27Copy video clip URL Statistics about USNWR magazine and readers.

32:30Copy video clip URL Melissa Leo, playing Margaret Thatcher, and Mary Feaster, as General Galtieri playBattleship on a colorful painted set (painted by Leo) while Bill Tabb reads the magazine.

34:00Copy video clip URL Tabb talks about why the rich businessman reads USNWR. Explains that the publication is about “how to buy,” discretionary income, and how to live your life if you’re pretty rich.

37:40Copy video clip URL Tabb talks about news articles in the magazine. Dangers such as “Troubled Teens” and “Marxism in U.S. Classrooms.”

38:29Copy video clip URL Tabb talks about the editorial section of the magazine. He believes that an editorial on Reagan’s stubbornness reads more like official propaganda than a considered argument.

39:35Copy video clip URL Tabb discusses the absence of real analysis in the magazine.

40:35Copy video clip URL Tabb turns to the news section to discuss the situation in the Falkland Islands. He talks about how leaders such as General Galtieri and Margaret Thatcher use war to smooth over domestic problems, and how international conflicts like this place the US in a difficult position, belying the idea that the communists are always the aggressors in war.

44:10Copy video clip URL People at a military parade talk about the need of more money for the military at expense of all else: “Less subsidies for public television, and more for the military.” Footage of the parade. Voiceover from “Patton” and other military movies.

47:55Copy video clip URL Tabb explains that USNWR partially exists to reinforce need for military spending.

50:25Copy video clip URL Tabb deconstructs advertisement for MacNeil/Lehrer Report from magazine. Discusses how authority is tied to appearances, and kept from ordinary people.

53:30Copy video clip URL Two people play battleship while Tabb discusses pride and military conflict.

55:42Copy video clip URL End credits, list of show costs.

57:20Copy video clip URL END