Word: downplay
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...consider the matter of wife battery. We managed to dodge it in the Bobbitt case and downplay it as a force in Tonya Harding's life. Thanks to O.J., though, we're caught up now in a mass consciousness-raisi ng session, grimly absorbing the fact that in some areas domestic violence sends as many women to emergency rooms as any other form of illness, injury or assault...
...President and his advisers tried to downplay the blow. While "sharply disappointed," his aides said, Clinton was not angry. Other Caribbean countries, they promised, would be found to replace Panama; Grenada, for instance, had agreed "in principle" to provide a haven for at least some of the refugees. But the sudden change of heart by Panama only deepened the impression that the Administration was practicing a kind of voodoo diplomacy toward Haiti, lurching from headline to headline and hoping that somehow the country's leaders would magically change their ways or disappear...
...opinion masquerading as fact. Some people, both white and black, said that crediting white pressure for the denunciations of Farrakhan was condescending, that it deprived black leaders of credit for what was simply principled behavior. Some readers also felt that to concentrate on this issue was to minimize or downplay the virulence of Muhammad's speech. And there was a general view among our critics that no amount of good works by the Nation of Islam could justify any black leader's toleration of, not to mention alliance with, such a racist organization...
...hosting Rushdie at the White House--the symbolic representation of the free world--our not-so-feckless leader Bill Clinton morally outdistanced his predecessor, who cravenly avoided the wrath of petrodollars. But Clinton did not go much further. In fact Clinton chose to downplay the glory of his decision by retrospectively characterizing his meeting with Rushdie as brief and insignificant...
...case, they are eagerly seeking it. All three dominant shows are attempting to downplay their sensationalistic aspects and be taken seriously. The main reason can be traced, as usual, to the bottom line: many blue-chip advertisers are reluctant to be associated with sensation-seeking shows, and stations have expressed their concerns to the companies that distribute them. "These programs have never had much of a problem attracting viewers," says John Rohr of Blair Television, which represents local stations. "The problem is selling the ad time...