Amendments came over the years allowing women to dare to wear trousers for riding bikes or horses. But the law remained on the books until this week, when it was repealed by the minister for womens rights. The correct answer to our gps chall question was a, richard iii was a plantagenets. That dynasty ruled over britain from 1216 with henry iii until august 1485, when richard iii was killed at the battle of bosworth at age 33. And a new battle has started over where his final resting place should be. In leicester, where hes been buried for some 525 years or in york, where he spent many of his living years, or westminster abbey, where most of britains kings are buried . Thanks for being part of my program this week. See you next week. Stay tuned for reliable sources. It may be just a small sign of change on the right, but fox news just dumped dick morris. The political pundit who loudly predicted, no, insisted, that mitt romney was going to wallop barack obama. I think that i was wrong at the top of my lungs. Maybe im being made a poster child for that. But do you resent the decision . Look, fox has given me the opportunity of a lifetime. 15 years, 3,000 interviews, and at some point a great marriage has to come to an end. Is this part of fox news and the Republican Party softening their image . And is the press covering that fairly . Senator Robert Menendez denounces a conservative website that published unsubstantiated allegations about him and underage prostitutes. Should the media touch that story without proof . Were talking about Chris Christie weight again. And you know who i blame . Chris christie. Im basically the healthiest fat guy youve ever seen in your life. Now the governor is mad that others are weighing in on television. Plus, more friends taking long vacations from americas most popular social network. The facebook fatigue taking a toll . And cbs cracking down on tonights grammys with a memo against showing too much skin. Is it time to take a stand against wardrobe malfunctions . Im howard kurtz and this is reliable sources. All that ahead, but first new england recovering this morning from that blizzard that dumped almost 3 feet of snow in some areas. As of this morning more than 350,000 people remaining without power. The storm is being blamed for nine deaths in three states and canada. The latest on the cleanup, lets go to boston and indra petersons. Wanted to ask you what its like standing in the show doing live shots hour after hour and what is the region doing to get ready for tomorrows rush hour . Reporter yeah. You know, i have to say its pretty unbelievable to stand on the lines of history. Talk about a difference. 24 hours ago we were talking about pelting ice and snow, winds gusting 60, even 70 miles per hour. And now check this out. Right . The sun is out. Its gorgeous. But thats only going to mean more problems. Heres the problem. Yeah, let me just take a look. We show you. Were talking about 24. 9 inches of snow out here. This is what we have to deal with as we go through the next couple of days. Heres the problem, though. We have one day to clean this up. The reason . Tomorrow, another storm is headed our way. First of all, remember i talked about the sun in temperatures will be above freezing today. Well start to see some of this melt. Then tomorrow another storm comes our way, so first well start off with a wintry mix then by the afternoon well be talking about more rain. Overnight the temperatures drop below freezing and what is that . Of course more ice on the roadway. A lot of problems to talk about. As far as cleanup, we have to clean up the snow but we still have 250,000 people without power today. The upside, people can already drive, yes, the emergency is still in effect so no one can park on the roadways so they can try and clear this in the short period of time they have. Obviously, no flights. Theyre trying to resume over 5,000 flights. Thanks. Reporter logan about 20 joud bound and 10 inbound flights already today. Thanks very much. Indra petersons in boston. Not a snowflake in the beltway. Maybe its all that hot air. The political coverage this week has been about republicans trying to project a kinder, softer, gentler image. Network most closely associated with that cause seems to be inching that way. Fox news is might sign scott brown, former massachusetts senator, as a commentator. And it dumped the man who kept making predictions like this one. Romney is going to win by four to eight points. Hes going to get more than 300 electoral votes. And ohio is not going to decide the election. Dick morris explained his stance after the election that he was being something of a gop cheerleader. I spoke about what i believed and i think that there was a period of time when the Romney Campaign was falling apart, people were not optimistic. Nobody thought there was a chance of victory. Ened i felt it was my duty at that point to go out and say what i said. So are republicans and fox news engaged in a bit of rehab . Steve robert, professor of media and Public Affairs at the George Washington university, ryan rizzo, washington correspondent for the new yorker and cnn contributor, and lauren ashburn, editor in chief of daily down load dotcom, where i am also a contributor. Is fox news going through a repositioning . They are. But i feel like dick morris is paying for the sins of an entire network. He was not the only one at fox news that predicted a crushing romney victory. Right . A lot of republican pollsters predicted that karl rove, hannity, half the named commentators on fox said things that like dick morris. So why him . He was probably the most over the top. And in the media he became whats the word he became a thing, that dick morris made these ridiculous over the top predictions. But this was something that was, you know, across the network at fox. Lawmaker ashburn, did fox drop dick morris for basically making a wrong prediction about the election . No, they dropped him because its been 15 years of dick morr morris. You get to a point where you need to hit the reset and refresh button. You want fresh voices and fresh faces and theres nothing wrong with that. Theres no saying onlier ayles is isnt saying hes not going to come back. Hes just saying were going to take a break. Its dick morris whos saying your contract is not renewed. Its more than taking a break. Listen to me. Hes on the record as saying that he is going its just not quite a divorce. Were going to take a break. I mean, you know what, people come back all the time. We thought dick morris was dead when he had a political scandal. Right . And look at him. Hes been on fox for 15 years. Okay. But sarah palin also out. Scott brown, the moderate, looks like hes in. Fox has a pretty big megaphone when it comes to the right. Thats true. There is a larger problem with fox. Their audiences are down. Truth in labeling, theyre still bigger than any other cable but they are down. Their trust level is down. The latest surveys, the public trust, fox has taken a significant dip. Look, dick morris is a buffoon. But roger ayles is not. And roger ayles is a very, very smart man who created fox as an alternative to many Mainstream Media. But roger ayles wants to be taken seriously as a credible person. Dick morris is not a credible person. Sarah palin is not a credible person. And i think he got rid of them in part because he wants fox to be taken seriously, and those people diminish their credibility. I getsz hes not coming to dinner at your house. Who . Dick morris. He is a buffoon, but as i say roger ayles is a very, very smart man and he knows he has to be more credible. By the way, you talked about credibility, new survey showing that 40 the problems of working families, talking about working moms. It does seem like theres an effort by the gop to soften the tone on issues like guns and immigration. Is that real . How should the press cover that . Is it real or spirits . Its real. I mean, the republicans lost the election and in their Election Results were some signs that the partys in real trouble and unless they reach out to constituencies they havent been doing well with. We know the demographics asianamericans, hispanics, women. Theyre getting killed among these demographics. Theres a debate within the Republican Party over whether its just messaging and pr and marketing and if they didnt communicate properly in the 2012 election. Others are saying no, at the core, the policy agenda needs to shift to attract voters theyre losing. Thats a big question about what eric cantor is doing with some of their republican leaders. Is it a marketing offensive or a change in the actual agenda . So youre answering our question. A credible journalist with the new yorker find this west interesting. Why wouldnt wekov it, howie . I dont understand the question. First, lets look at the cover of the new time magazine, marco rubio, headline, the republican savior. The more we focus on voices like rubios young, nextgeneration republican and the less we talk about john boehner and the endless budget fights with president obama, we are helping to shift the tone as well. Maybe journalists want the gop to moderate a bit. Well, of course they do. I mean, then you know, thats what makes things interesting. You have karl rove coming out with a new super pac that is going to be funding people who are more moderate. And then you have, you know, other people in the tea party, et cetera, who are still trying to shift things as far right as possible and stand up for their morals and principles. We have to do both. I do think we have to take seriously this attempt by republicans to rebrand themselves. But if theres no change in vote, if theres no change in policy, then are we to some degree thats true. Perhaps being taken in by the packaging . Fair point. But lets see what happens on immigration, for instance. Are there going to be republican votes that back up the four senators, to take one example, four republican senators led by john mccain, who said let me give you some straight talk, we are losing the kinds of people ryan was talking about. That translates into real votes and policy, its serious. Its beyond packaging. At the same time, theres a whole group of people who dont go along. Weve got to cover the tea party deadenders as well as the mccain reformers. You call them deadenders. They would say theyre fighting for the principles they believe in. Let me shift gears pap fascinating deadly story has emerged involving christopher dorner, the former l. A. Police officer who was accused, a great manhunt on right now, of multiple murders and violent rampage. And a manifesto written by him rambling, 11page rant, really, emerged in recent days. He has a lot of opinions on people on television. Chris matthews, joe scarborough, pat harvey, Brian Williams, soledad obrien, wolf blitzer, keep up the great work. Willie geist, youre talent pd stop with the talkshow shenaniga shenanigans. Its bizarre. How much should we care about what this guy says . Its bizarre. I think, you know, first of all, thats one list as a journalist you probably dont want to be on, the killers list of favorite journalists. We should care about it because hes a murder suspect and its worth covering. The other media story here is theres all these allegations in his manifesto against the Los Angeles Police department. You know, a question for the media. Should they be investigating that stuff . Is he credible given the fact hes probably killed people, is he credible in the accusations hes throwing out at the lapd . Its fascinating that all of these people that we know and see on tv are on this list. But the question really is do we want to publicize what this person is saying . He put it on facebook. Facebook has a billion people on it. Everybody is going to read this. So the New York Times made a decision not to actually talk about this and only use quotes sparingly from him. And i happen to think that for the New York Times is a wise decision. You want to see it on facebook, go look for it. Let me mention that dorner also sent a package to Cnns Anderson Cooper which contained a dvd having to do with his being kicked off the lapd and also a bulletridden souvenir coin. Take a look at coopers reaction. What i find so interesting and puzzling is that, i mean, big parts of this manifesto dont sound like they come from an Insane Person or someone capable of doing these killings. He seems aware of reality, the consequences of his actions. Ive been getting a lot of heat on twitter saying this guy dorner likes all these liberals on tv, the media is covering this up, its somehow tying the fact of these media personalities to this murders alleged rampage saying we blame conservatives. It would be different if he said he liked Rush Limbaugh or sarah palin. I dont know what to make of that. I thought the more interesting part of his manifesto was his analysis of the lapd. There is a long history of racism there. And i agree with anderson. There was an intelligence there at work. Now, this man has obviously gone on an murderous rampage and not in any way excusing that. Allegedly. But there is a very serious and careful analysis of the endemic racism in the lapd, a historical sensibility. That to me is worth paying attention to despite the murder the force from which it comes. I think theres a kernell of truth to the criticism on twitter. Sometimes the media has a hair trigger when you find out a murder suspect has ties to say the tea party or a radical right group. I have emphasized that. Sometimes we go over it fairly and sometimes not so much. I understand the sensitivity on the right. But theres nothing in his manifesto that ties him to any organized political group. He was talking about movie, talking about people he likes on tv, talking about politics. I mean, this seems like a very normal joe. Yeah. Got to go. When we come back, Chris Christie downs a doughnut on letterman and lashes out at a doctor for questioning his health. Are the media gorging on his weight . [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. Chris christie decided to fight back this week against all the media mockery about his weight. Well let Brian Williams set it up. New jersey governor Chris Christie took advantage of his firstever appearance on David Letterman last night to hit a big issue head on and it happened right in the middle of their conversation. I didnt know this was going to be this long. That of course triggered lots of cable segments about the governors girth. I worry that he may have a heart attack, he may have a stroke. Im a physician more than im a democrat or republican and i worry about this man dying in office. What was christies response to those comments on cnn by former white house physician Connie Mariano . She must be a genius. She should probably be the Surgeon General of the United States i suspect because she must be a genius. Listen, this is just another hack who wants five minutes on tv. If she wants to get on a plane and come to new jersey and examine me and review my medical history, ill have a conversation with her about that. Until that time, she should shut up. Lauren ashburn . Obesity is a big epidemic. Go ahead. Ask the question. Sorry. Would you like me to shut up . Im telling you to shut up. Christie goes on letterman, eats the doughnut, makes the joke about his weight, selfdeprecating and hes complaining everybody is talking about it . A little thin skinned. I have a hard time with him eating a doughnut then lashing out at someone for actually talking act htalk ing about his weight. The larger point here no pun intended maybe hes healthy as he says he is, but obesity is a big epidemic costing billions of health care dollars. And i think that just needs to be addressed. I agree with that, and i think you know, as one commentator said, his biggest physical problem is not his big girth, its his thin skin. He clearly showed that he and if hes going to run for president hes got to get used to this. A lot tougher. Excuse me. Sorry. Somebody accused me of being a bully by saying that we should talk about obesity, saying that i have a prejudice against fat people, which i dont ive struggled with my weight. I think that the question is really do you want to be projecting the image of an obese person . Its not just that. Theres another issue. We have a right, if someones going to be in the national spotlight, to know something about their discipline and judgment. That brings me to one of the questions i wanted to ask. The only reason we in the media are obsessing on this is because we think christie may probably run for president in 2016, which is three years from now. New jersey is happy with him. He has a reelection in new jersey. Of course. His popularity is high, looks like hell have an easy reelection. His whole media strategy this week was im going to make a joke of my weight. Put this behind me. It backfired. He cant take a joke about it. He cant kid himself. This woman made, you know, a comment that any doctor will tell you and he comes out there, doesnt laugh about it, doesnt do any selfdeprecating humor and attacks her in sort of a vicious way and that becomes the story. He calls connie and she tells the press he yelled at her on the phone. It backfired. Were talking about him. Not in a flattering way. Not in a flattering way. Youre the professor here. Before i move onto another subject, the whole convention which television puts on doctor, psychologists who then purport to analyze people, patients they have never met, is there something wrong with that . Does christie have a half a point . Half a point in that she has not looked at his medical records. Her saying shes worried about his health, he may die, i didnt particularly like that because she hasnt looked at his records. The point that is legitimate, he said over and over again, ive tried to lose weight and i havent done it. Does that tell us something about his discipline . Does that tell us something about his judgment . I think the answer is yes. I think somebody else says the answer is no. Going to start to rumble here. When you look at it is true. That to me is the more important issue. Got to move on. Washington poststyle story this week, speaking of weight, about Michelle Obamas behind. All because an Alabama High School football coach was caught on tape saying the first lady has a big butt. Isnt that a flimsy rationale for publish a story on the subject . Absolutely not. I dont think so at all. Its an interesting sociological story. Africanamerican women and other women have been targeted for their weight, how they look. If youre curvy and not rail thin like some models, then you are not as attractive. Now, and the article did that. It turned it into a look at the history of this. And it also showed you that the person who made these comments is dumb. Who cares about this guy . Hes hardly a national figure. Secondly, in my view, the article dressed it up with a lot of sociology and history and it was still about whether Michelle Obama has a big butt. She has beautiful arms. Shes a beautiful person. And the fact that shes in good shape. In great shape and she promote, unlike Chris Christie, physical fitness. And so if she im not going to save lauren here. If she isnt rail thin, then, you know, who cares . Im generally . A camp of once you go into the public life like that, you know, theyre really stretching the limits. But this story just seemed kind of dumb to me. Like howie said, it seemed like it was dressed up with a lot of bs, sociological stuff, when it was rally an opportunity because its about a woman . No. Theres another word we have to speak here and thats racism. And there is to my view, there was an undercurrent in that comment from that about black women and there was a racist ting to it and i think thats what made it a bigger story. Give you the last word. No it wasnt. Thats my last word. No. At least youre consistent. Three words will do. Up next, the more serious subject, senator bob menendez denounces unsubstantiated allegations involving prostitutes. Is that fair game for the press . If your tires need to be rotated, you have to get that done as well. Jackie, tell me why somebody should bring theyre car here to the ford dealership for service instead of any one of those other places out there. They are going to take care of my car because this is where it came from. Price is right no problem, they make you feel like youre a family. Get a Synthetic Blend Oil change, tire rotation and much more, 29. 95 after 10. 00 rebate. If you take care of your car your car will take care of you. In the month since the daily caller website published unsubstantiated allegations that senator Robert Menendez had patronized prostitutes in the dominican republic, the press has largely stayed away from the charges. Now, despite the lack of evidence, the story has become a talking point on some fox news programs. Theres one other point here. If, according to law, he had sex with an underage prostitute, regardless of it being legal in the dominican republic, he would be charged in the United States. You put something on the table that proves this happened then im happy to have a conversation about what sort of dana bash got a strong response. Reporter one last question. Can you just answer the allegation that has been out there that you the smears . Reporter you were with prostitutes . The smears that rightwing blogs have been pushing since the election and that is totally unsubstantiated. Its amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a website can drive that type of story into the mainstream. Steve robert, are these unsubstantiated allegations worthy of coverage . No. I think that this is a huge problem for the Mainstream Media, that you get websites who have much lower standards of accuracy, much lower standards of verification, they put something out there, and i think theres still a responsibility on the part of serious Mainstream Media to resist repeating unsubstantiated rumors. At the same time, there were very serious allegations about senator mendez lets stick with this. But on the prostitutes i think this was a story that was not substantiated enough to merit mainstream coverage. Lets go global and take a look at the website were talking about. Its daily caller. It is funded by foster freeze, a conservative. The daily callers agenda is conservative Tucker Carlsons website. Tuckers website. Is conservative bashing in many cases. This is the their reports interrupted president obama during a speech. We know where theyre coming from. So the fact that they have two Anonymous Sources that are saying this has to be suspect. Now, if it was another legitimate News Organization that didnt have this kind of bent, it would be a different story. What about as we just saw, when the senator himself denies it on camera to cnn, does that not open the door for other organizations to cover it . You can cover it after he says that as cnn did. A great question by dana. Good for her for getting the interview, for raising a prickly topic. But to go on the record talking about whether or not he had been with prostitutes before he even addresses it with two Anonymous Sources, isnt this program called reliable sources . Isnt this what journalists do is not run Anonymous Sources . Because were reliable, we asked the daily caller for a response. They did not release their names and they obscured their faces. It is difficult and, inform, axe and the New York Times say they have investigated this and tried to corroborate and have been unable to corroborate these allegations. Therefore it is hard to confirm. Yeah. Abc my understanding this crew, this group this washington ethics. There is an anonymous person whos at the center of this that leveled these accusations. Who now refuses to come forward. Refuses to come forward. Neither nbc nor crew could confirm the identity. This guy is getting smeared. Im practically uncomfortable sitting here on tv talking about completely unsubstantiated allegations. What was if it was a republican, not just because hes a democrat . The same thing happened to senator larry craig a few years ago, unsubstantiated rumors about him being gay and some news organizes went with it until the incident with the police in the bathroom. Then it became legitimate. Back to your question having to do with whether the media going soft on the democratic senator. New york times and other organizations have reported extensively on senator menendez intervening for a major donor with a government contract, reimbursing the government after these stories. 58,000 for free trips taken on the donors airplane. Not like the press collectively has given him a the times called for him to give up his chairmanship. Theyre going after it as hard as they can. But theyre not reporting allegations from an anonymous emailer. Huge difference. The fbi is investigating the economic the financial fraud issues. That is a totally legitimate thing for a News Organization to say. Theres an official investigation. But youre right, New York Times, not soft on democrats. This is the new chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee. They called for him to step aside. I applaud the times for being tough on him. Until things can be resolved. As the blog hot air said if you lose the New York Times you pretty much better hang it up if youre a democrat. Youre in trouble. Thanks for stopping by this morning. Ahead on reliable sources, has facebook peaked . Lots of people taking a break from the social network. Plus, bingeing on a miniseries, but its not tv. Is netflix changing the rules with its kevin spacey drama . Frp to be the worlds best sport sedan. People noticed. The allnew cadillac ats 2013 north american car of the year. For a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the allnew cadillac ats. Try align. Its the number one ge recommended probiotic c that helps maintain digestive balance. Stay in the groove with align. Need help keeping your digestive balance in sync . Try align. Its a probiotic that fortifies your digestive system with healthy bacteria 24 7. Because your insides set the tone. Stay in the groove with align. Because your insides set the tone. Thyou eat less. Ing weiyou lose weight. Et. Its a great plan. Until you get hungry. Thats the time to take slimful. One tasty 90calorie slimful and a glass of water satisfies hunger for hours making it easier to eat smaller meals, and resist snacking. Your friends might think you found the secret to losing weight. But its no secret. Its slimful. Eating less is a beautiful thing. Facebook is more than a website. For many people its a way of life. But is the social Network Losing its allure . A new study but the pew internet project finds 61 of facebook users have at times taken a break for several weeks or more and 20 of dulls online say they used to be februaries of facebook but no more. So is facebook addiction a thing of the past . Joining us now in san francisco, sarah lacy, founder and editor in chief of the pandodaily. Com. In washington, mario armstrong, digital editor. Sarah, people taking long breaks, is it becoming passe . Well, you know, i think when you get to a billion users you cant expect everyone to use the site in the same way. I mean, i think since facebook started getting mainstream people have been saying oh its getting old, its a fad. I remember sort of covering this story in 2007 or. I think what gives it a little bit more legs this time is that most people are using their phones for their social habits and their social you know, their social time while theyre standing in line or waiting in traffic. And facebook has an absolutely horrible mobile app. I mean, thats why i havent been to facebook in weeks. It crashes every time i open it. In weeks. The editor has not i havent. Havent updated your status, posted baby pictures or anything . You know what, i even got some gifts over facebook gifts for my birthday and i never claimed them. I tried to go on my phone and it broke. You are out. Mario armstrong, maybe some folks feel kind of overwhelmed by having to keep up with all the friends and the pictures and the updates and so they pull the plug to kind of get their balance back. That could certainly be the case. I mean, i feel that people are looking for whats their attention attraction. Its like how much time in the day do i have, how much time can i actually allocate to things and whats most important to me to allocate that time to . I feel sad for sarahs friends who have allocated time to get her gifts and theyre bummed she hasnt cashed in yet. But i understand people need to take a digital diet, take a break from this stuff. It can be too much. Youre finding people sitting around not having conversations, at the doctors office, at location where is you would normally engage in other people because theyre stuck to their phone and fixated on their social media. Sarah, that was the question about Mark Zuckerbergs company, what happens when its no longer considered the shiny new object. Well, i think we have to resist this fadishness in covering technology. I mean, look, facebook, lets step back. Theyve done something no one has ever done in the history of the world. It has wired together a billion people who never have to lose touch with each other. I dont buy people will start cancelling their memberships to facebook. The danger is its becoming like linked in where its this aaa card in the back of your wallet where if you need to get in touch with someone youve lost touch with them, you go there and find them, but its not this daily engagement point. That works for linked in because linked in has undercut the recruiting market and its given people a big reason to make money when they go there. Its providing something very, very valuable that is a sub seth of so it can be a multibilliondollar Company Without you going every day. Facebook doesnt have that. Facebook is trying to show you ads. Something valuable and, you know, so its too early to say its peaked but it needs to recognize the mobile problem and the engainment problem. I spend more time on twitter because for facebook its harder to get newsy developments and my news and everybodys news feed because the way facebook has changed the rules. I think youre on the other end of the spectrum. Youre creating and delivering content. People are consuming it but not necessarily creating it. Youre more likely to stay and use it because its value to you. Journalists like to broadcast continue innocent through social networks. Netflix, 27 million streaming subscribers, first original series called house of cards with the request kevin spacey. He was asked about it on the today show. Oh, i drafted on our middle east policy. 13 episodes at once, released on netflix, which sounds unusual. Yeah. But in some ways this is the way people view these days anyway, isnt it . Its part of the argument for putting it out there the way that we are, that, you know, you talk to any of your friends and what did you do over the weekend so, many times im hearing friends saying i stayed home and watched two seasons of breaking bad. Sarah lacy, is this the new consumption model, which is you get all 13 episodes if p you want to watch them over weekend, you do rather than waiting for it to come on temperature every single week . I mean, in my house its not the new consumption model. Its been the consumption model for five or six years. You look at netflix streaming. This is why its almost all tf that you see and not movies. Thats how weem have been watching this stuff. I think its smart of net lix to look at its own User Behavior and be the one whos reacting first this. If a company like netflix with make an original series and attract enough audience to make a profit, does that compete with the old model of mass television, got to get a mass audience to tune in at a certain time . Absolutely it does. This is really, really significant. Because what this will say is, look, we dont need to only create shows that are 30 minutes in length or 60 minutes in length and have them fit inside of a traditional broadcast model. We can do shows that are 20 minutes or 90 minutes. Doesnt matter. They can be home runs or they can be a nice double. Reed hastings put it great we dont have to pit it out of the park every time we do a show on net flick. A decent enough audience is enough to make money. Not everything has to be a home run like in tv. And people want to watch when they want. Thanks very much for joining us. Coming up, cbs cracking down on revealing outfits at tonights grammys. Has television had enough of wardrobe malfunctions . Ather pat. 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Right now theyre only 14. 95 wowa grt deal just got a whole lot better. Hurry. 14. 95 wont last. Its become almost the norm now at the big awards shows or super bowl halftime for women to wear skimpy outfits and suffer the occasional wardrobe malfunction. But tonights Grammy Awards on cbs are supposed to be different now that the network has put out this memo. The memo continues in minute anatomical detail, trust me. Is this a welcome step towards decency or is the Network Going overboard . Cultural commentator and former New York Times reporter and maureen oconnor, features editor for new york magazines the cut. Lola, is cbs taking a stand for decency with this carefully worded memo . First of all, theyre using the word buttocks in 2013 so thats already a problem. Second of all, if they think that these rock stars are going to abide by this rule, they are sadly mistaken. The one way to guarantee that a rock star does exactly what you dont want them to do so tell them no. Its like waving a flag at a bull. Come on. Maureen, the memo is so excruciatingly detailed about what you can and cannot show when it comes to certain areas, lola seems to think everyones going to ignore it. Do you think this is at least a step in the right direction for Family Friendly programming . Well, you know, the thing is its not even just rock stars performing. They said they didnt want the sides of anyones bres to show. At the grammys, every woman is wearing her dress cut to her belly button. Unless theyre going to blur every woman from her neck to sternum, they cant enforce it. Do you think its selly . Do you find it ludicrous . It is silly. More than anything, its problematic. We tune into the grammys to see these people break all the sartorial rules. Theyre rock stars. Its sex, drug, and rock n roll. Not sex, drug, and sensible dressing. No one tunes into the grammys to see that. Go ahead, maureen. Sure. Theyre caught in this sort of catch22 and every single Major Network airing the awards show. They want to invite the provocateur, which causes people to tune in. But those people will be the most difficult. Remember in 2010 eminem and lil wayne performed and it was like they bleeped out the entire performance because they were so afraid of them saying swear words on television, whats going to happen when you have these people performing. We showed jlo twice, once was enough with that dress. That dress made her career, howie. Im going to play household name. Im going to play the role of a prude. I like looking at women as the next red blooded guy, but when beyonce does the super bowl in that getup, a lot of kids are watching this and do we want to expose them to this kind of wardrobe attire, in other words, not just aimed at adults . Does that trouble anybody . Its not the job of the rock star to police what theyre wearing. Its the job of the parent to police what their child is watching. But you cant let your 10yearold daughter or your 9yearold son watch the super bowl, how sad is that . Because youre worried about what they might see at halftime . Well, maybe im a bit less prudish than you are. I didnt find her outfit to be that revealing. She was covered up and thats the way she dresses in all of her videos. If you like the Single Ladies video shes in a unitard and shes in a unitard at the super bowl. Cbs may be concerned about being fined by the federal communications commission, cbs that carried the super bowl in 2004 when Janet Jackson had the famous wardrobe malfunction, we see the famous picture there, played about 100 million times. So im wondering whether this is a defensive move by cbs . You know, Justin Timberlake is performing at the grammys so he will have another chance. In 2004 he actually in order to get on the grammy stage they said he would have to apologize for what he did at the super bowl and he did because he was accepting an award that year. They have a sense that, you know, they need to have everybody acknowledge their decency standards and even if people end up misbehaving they have to repent for it afterwards or say theyre going to try not to do it again. Have wardrobe malfunctions in the famous cliche become the new normal and something that both the stars and the pedia are complicit . Almost every day on the Huffington Post i see a headline linking to a picture of some woman falling out of her dress or Something Like that. This is where the culture is now . Well, its definitely a way to draw views, web page views. If youve got a woman whos showing a little bit of a cleavage or a little bit of side breast, you can guarantee youre going to get more clicks than if a woman is sitting there in blazer and turtleneck, thats for sure. Half a minute. If everybody obeys and winds up wearing relatively modest clothing. They better not. Boring red carpet ever if everybody obeys those rules. It will be a snooze. You dont tune in to go to bed. This is not some side issue . This is the main event. If they take it away do you think the ratings will plummet . The ratings wont plummet but we know thats the talking point tomorrow morning and if anybody is going to keep on talking about what happens at the grammys you want to see Something Interesting happen. It doesnt have to be naked people, but certainly thats part of the whole spectacle and the show of it. Now that weve talked about it i will have to watch and have a report tomorrow morning on whether or not cbs was able to enforce these rules. Maureen and lola, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. After the break, nbcs big exclusive on the use of killer drones, bill oreilly misses the mark on that subject and a comic strip issues kind of a serious warning. Media monitor is straight ahead. Citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. Citracal slow release. Time now for the media monitor, our weekly look at the hits and errors in the news business. Heres what i like, nbcs mike issa cough changed the terms of the National Security debate ob take an explosive Justice Department memo detailing the legal rationale for drone strikes against terror suspects abroad. This memo sheds light on what is one of the most controversial and secretive policies of the obama administration, not just its drone strike campaign, but reserving the rights to use drones against american citizens. Issy cough pierced the veil of secrecy keeping the American People from knowing how assassinations were being carried out in their name. Everyone gave nbc credit for the exclusive. Bill oreilly had a different view. Remember the outcry about waterboarding. Sure. Everybody jumping up and down. Yeah. Nbc news, i thought they were going to like melt down over there. Heard anything on nbc about the drones . Not yet. No. Thats