May 30, 2002

8:00 PM

Journalists response to the web wide debate sparked after their interview with Jamie Kellner CEO of Turner Broadcasting. Where he likened not viewing the adverts to theft. It's a story I was very interested in and it seems it caused a fair amount of debate. Other than the 'Osama is evil' explosion what's your favorite meme with legs ?
posted by mrben (8 comments total)

Sometimes I wonder if Beig Media constantly going on about piracy is not about stopping piracy, but simply getting free advertising in the news, day after day. So many of these stories seem to include a plug for a specific product, if you pay enough attention. Who here wouldn't have know that Celine Dion and Eminem had released a new album if they hadn't read it in a copy protection or piracy related news story?
posted by krisjohn at 8:40 PM on May 30, 2002

So I did a parody on the story "But Daddy I Need To Go" and Staci I'm sorry I spelled your last name Krammer and I can tell you that a lot of people followed your instructions and typed "Jamie Kellner" bathroom I've had many visits before that but hundred's after. It is amazing how a few simple remarks by CEO Kellner spread across the web. I think the advertising we see on TV has reached the saturation point people are starting to ignore ads they would have paid attention to in the past, and I suspect it wont be that many years when we pay directly in some way for the shows we watch. Yoda is a popular search item these days it is amazing the variety of takes there are on that cute little guy with the Dubya ears.
posted by onegoodmove at 11:40 PM on May 30, 2002

What a disappointing assessment by the original interviewer. According to Staci, the problem with the negative reactions to Kellner's moronic comments is that us peons don't "understand the difference between an implied contract and a written one."

Implied contract, my ass. There was never any "implied contract" between the broadcasters who stole the electromagnetic spectrum back in 1928 and the public they stole it from. According to Jesse Walker, an associate editor at Reason and author of Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America, there was already a revolving door between broadcast companies and the precursor to the FCC in 1928. Regulators created rules that favored their mega-broadcasting pals and penalized unlicensed amateurs and local community microbroadcasters. This is in the 1920s, remember.

We've been completely shafted on this one from the start and Kellner's attempt to paint things differently is a crock that deserves all the scorn that's been heaped on it. Kellner's belief that entertainment companies are entitled to the free use of the public airwaves to rake in advertising profits is historical revisionism at its finest. That a contributing editor at OJR would defend that crap is just pathetic.
posted by mediareport at 11:45 PM on May 30, 2002

Why be outraged?
This is the staus quo.
'Our' airwaves are controled by business, just as our government is.
When we can listen to 500 staions like KPFA, instead of 5, we might have a chance to be heard. - or howzabout TV?

The dissemination of information is the key to change.
We the people may never have it, but it's still worth trying.

BTW, here in Silicon Valley (a.k.a. Valley of Hearts Delight), I get the honest proposition that we can find any information we want on the web. Fair enough, but this is a hyper-educated area and the truth is that most people are still essentially luddites. TV and Radio are most peoples primary current-events education source.

How often do you find Public Broadcasting in a pure state? (i.e. without influence by our government or corporations?)
posted by a_green_man at 2:07 AM on May 31, 2002

Other than the 'Osama is evil' explosion what's your favorite meme with legs ?

Bush Knew
posted by nofundy at 5:21 AM on May 31, 2002

Why be outraged?
This is the status quo.

Wow. I'm struck dumb by that one.

[shakes it off] The point was that Kellner's revisionist take on the public airwaves is demonstrably wrong and should be countered. How do you think the status quo gets to be the status quo, anyway?
posted by mediareport at 8:46 AM on May 31, 2002

By the way, I believe the Kellner story took off right here on Metafilter on April 29th.
posted by gspira at 9:58 PM on June 1, 2002

someone should verify that and email kramer about it so she can put a funny and ironic epilogue on the end of that column
posted by zerolucid at 1:39 AM on June 2, 2002