Sunday, August 20, 2006

Wolves Lower The FCC currently has a notice for public comment out on the issue of media ownership Media Ownership Proceeding for Public Comment. I wrote about this a month ago. They were interested in collecting a wide range of opinion and information on this topic. I'm told the period they allowed, 120 days, is much longer than usual. The other week there was a metafilter post up Conspiracy Theory Rock | MetaFilter centering around one of Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse shorts "Media-opoly" YouTube - Cartoon Song about Disney NBC and others (RARE). It's up on You Tube (my nephew Lucas' current seal-of-approval site). One of many hommages to Schoolhouse Rock. The apparent story is that it was broadcast in March of 1998, then cut when that SNL episode came around for its summer re-run. Some people didn't find it funny, and explained to Lorne Micheals he shouldn't either I don't watch SNL regularly so all this happened without my being aware. As far as whether its funny, I thought it was hilarious. It gets funnier every time I watch it. It is satire, direct and sarcastic. Satire seems to bother some people, it seems so indecorous. But as the poet says... when Crispinus, a blob of nilotic scum, bred in Canopus, hitchs a cloak of tyrian purple onto his shoulder and flutters a simple ring of gold (in summer he cannot bear the weight of heavy stone), It is hard not to write satire. Crispinus hitches that cloak daily. It is a small suggestion I make that the FCC not overlook this film in their effort to fully triangulate the issue. Similarly entertaining and yet informative is this Ars Technica piece on the neu plasticine turf Web 2.0, meet Astroturf 2.0. They write of a set of Common Cause reports, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, Part 2 - Common Cause (part 1 also) which unveil the fake peoples-interest organizations hands off the internet and TV4us, which pulverised the Washington DC print and television market in recent months, to be creatures of ATT or cable TV interests. Only a moron would not have guessed this, but the Common Cause reports detail not only the tightness of the relationships but also the extent with which they tried to obscure it. ATT's motto seems to have been hands off the internet and fingerprints off the monopoly-minded plutocrat pressure campaign. I especially like the singer Moby done as "mo-bee" in the ersatz-amatuer You-Tube video they reference (WolvesII, p.9) thats high quality comedy there. At least these campaigns have existed within the realm of advertising or the vaguely unworldly confines of the world wide web. The Washington Post notes  FCC Queries TV Stations On Video News Releases that the FCC In response to a study by the group Center for Media and Democracy (which has spawned the site activistcash.com by the telcom lobby deditcated to the damning proposition that the pennys CMD spends against the thousands of dollars they spend means something) sent out 77 letters to broadcast news organizations for the practice of airing spots produced by industry groups - generally designed to appear to be authentic news without labeling them as such. Currently The FCC is committed to regulations requiring disclosure. Look for that quietly to change. It's such a hassle for the man. 11:49:16 PM    comment [];trackback [];

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 2006 Paul Bushmiller. Last update: 8/23/06; 1:22:55 AM.