Falwell & the MSM (and gays, and 9/11)
When he was powerful, the media treated him like a joke. When he was a joke, the media thought he was powerful.
PS: the Teletubbies thing. As commenters elsewhere have noted already, Falwell (to be more precise, some guy who wrote Falwell's newsletter) didn't originate the notion of Tinky Winky's homosexuality. Gays had already claimed the purple puppet, thanks to the triangle on his head and his purse.
Characteristically, gays were once again "reading" gayness into non-gay things (All About Eve, Johnny Guitar) while categorically denying the gayness of actual gays (like all those Catholic priests who molested teen and pre-teen boys -- never girls). Then gays turned around and mocked Falwell for saying something he didn't say, but that they themselves had been saying for months. About a children's cartoon. Which they'd all been watching because...?
There's a reason homosexuality used to be classified as a mental disorder.
Lastly: everyone is replaying Falwell's post-9/11 remarks. Had I been Falwell, I'd have said instead: "For once, let's give homosexuals, abortionists, radical feminists, the ACLU and the People for the American Way a hand, everybody. After all, this is the first major tragedy in the last 50 years that they had absolutely nothing to do with..."
Funny thing is, Falwell turned out to be absolutely correct in his own weird way: leftists are falling all over each other to side with radical Muslims now. The Left had nothing to do with September 11, 2001 -- but from September 12/01 to today, they've been trying to make up for THAT ball drop, big time.
Dude had your number, Lefties! You're even wrong about the stuff you're right about.