I want my MTV back!
I wish I could teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, but for now I wish you would all read this article written by Ted Turner. In it, he addresses the issue of media consolidation in television, radio and print, and the consequences this has had on American society as a whole. It’s very well written, and I believe every American needs to read it.
I’ve never been terribly patriotic, but now more than ever I believe this is a bad time to be an American simply because of how the nation seems to be going to pot. We have become so corporate it’s beginning to make me really sick. You can’t get away from advertising at all anymore … if it’s not the networks promoting their own shows during the closing credits (which used to run unadulterated with a recap of the theme music), it’s sports *complexes* (there are no more stadiums) sponsored by their corporate overlords. I remember seeing a *college* football game on Fox once in the late 90s that was sponsored by FedEx. They found so many ways to pimp FedEx, it was really sickening. It wasn’t just the Rose Bowl (or whatever) anymore, it was the *FedEx* Rose Bowl. There was a new special effect that would mark the first down line in bright yellow across the field. I thought that was kinda neat until I noticed that ‘FedEx’ marched across the lenth of the line: ‘FedEx FedEx FedEx…’. The final straw for me was when I noticed on one of the closeups of the players, in the black junk they put under their eyes (I guess it helps reduce glare in their eyes?), FedEx was clearly reversed against the black. It was unbelievable.
As unashamedly bad as that is, advertising is only an annoyance. When media consolidation limits the number of dissenting voices, when it limits choice, stifles innovation, and most of all, when it risks public safety, it’s time to utter a collective wtf, people.
So WTF already?!?
When MTV starts showing music videos again, I’ll breathe a sigh of relief. For now I’ll even brave the spamlords and open up comments for a time. Give me a courtesy wtf honk in the comments section if you’re with me, peoples.
July 24th, 2004 at 12:26 am
Mon Ami -
Money makes the world go round. To add to your laundry list of complaints, look at movie theaters: what the hell is up with the excessive commericals even before the previews? I understand the Coke, popcorn, candy etc, but they have commercials for Levis jeans now! You’d think that the high price of the movie covers the cost of making it, considering in a year $10 a ticket will seem “worth it.” But no, it doesn’t. “Why?” you say. Well, it’s like my 8th grade teacher once said when I asked him, “what do people want beside sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll?” Answer: “more sex, more drugs, and more rock ‘n roll.” Or, in this case, “more money.”
I hear and appreciate your rant about crass capitalism, but it’s NOT going away soon. The problem now isn’t in our own country (as rampant as it may be, you can always turn off the Fedex Commercial), it’s how we are trying to export it to other nations, and then looking dumbfounded when we realize that they don’t want what we want. (1,200 different varities of cereal, for example). The real challenge for capitalism is how it will deal with the gaps between weathly and poor, places where authoritarism (e.g. China, North Korea) more or less governs or where religion or indigenous culture feels threatened. I think that’s where we need to be sensitive and question the “universality” of this sytem’s application.
As for the overpromoting corporatization of America — well, people reserve the right to backlash. There’s a struggle between the people who want to sell products and those people who do might buy them. Some of those potential buyers are getting fed up, but their actions aren’t ultimately as powerful against the mighty dollar. [How long, for example, before McDonald's goes off their "healthy menu"? Probably until the costs exceed the profits].
In the meantime, as this struggle plays out, we’ll have to go to non-Starbucks coffee shops, watch independent films, and eat at ethnic resturants. (Well, that’s my plan at least. Those are my main three units of outside consumption: movies, eating, and coffee).
-Ken
July 24th, 2004 at 2:21 am
Some good points, as always. Despite my general disgruntlement with the current state of affairs, I really don’t hold out any hope that the current trend towards corporate consolidation is going to go away any time soon. It’s a pipe dream — but a dream nonetheless.
I must admit, though, that your movie example is one of the more egregious examples of corporate gouging of customers. Yes, we’re now *paying• to be bombarded by advertisements prior to seeing our movie. What really pisses me off, though, is that the theaters have the audacity to raise ticket prices at the same time. If anything, since they’re generating revenue from the placement of said advertisements, one would reasonably expect that they could therefore lower prices or at the very least hold prices steady; it’s just a shameless, blatant cash-grab.
I understand and accept that advertisement is a necessary part of capitalism, I just object to the degree to which they’ve taken it in recent years. So I don’t watch television except on rare occasions anymore, and neither do I go to see movies very much anymore.
If it were just that I could live with the idea of mega-corporations, except that they don’t act with the common good in mind, and sometimes against the best interests of the public, as in Turner’s example of local authorities unable to broadcast a warning during an emergency.
There were plenty of examples of big media acting in its own best interests counter to that of the people, but let me add a few additional examples. Why is it okay for Microsoft to be showing foreign nations its Windows source code when senior MS executives have testified under oath that there are fundamental security flaws in the operating system they’re aware of and have not disclosed because it would constitute a severe breach of national security since Windows is widely deployed in the government from desktops to servers to nuclear submarines. (Yes, nuclear fucking submarines running *Windows*.) Is it really in the best interests of the public to strengthen and extend copyright laws just so that a particular mouse doesn’t fall into public domain. Disney has been quite evil that way — the same Disney which Turner referenced that wished to avoid any kind of media coverage if possible.
There are millions of examples to choose from, but it’s late and I’m not thinking clearly enough to call any more to mind. The fact remains, though, corporations exist to do one thing, and that is to turn a profit each quarter or else, and the cards are being stacked in their favor. I believe this is a much bigger problem than most people make it out to be because now that they have the bit in their mouth, they’re running with it all the way to the bank. Lawmakers like Oren Hatch will *not* suddenly turn over a new leaf and cease to be puppets for the corporations that no doubt arrange for them to receive large amounts of money through business “opportunities” and campaign donations. Voting will only get us so far, and sadly, I don’t think it’s going to be enough. Sooner or later, unless we can do something to change the status quo, all this consolidation is going to be our undoing.
This I predict.
July 24th, 2004 at 10:23 pm
Preach it, brutha Tim!