Marshall Herskovitz: Are the corporate suits ruining TV? ( x )

[tiptoe]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3720513

• The relaxation of the Fairness Doctrine (which required the networks to present the news in a balanced way),
  
• the lapse of any oversight of networks' civic responsibility
  
• the commoditization of network news
  
• aggregation of control of information in an ever-shrinking number of entities (NBC Universal, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom/Paramount, Sony and News Corp)
  
• the threat of media consolidation to freedom of the press
  
• migration to the Internet

[Joanne98]

1. YES! If we banned cop shows there would be nothing on TV!

[tomreedtoon]

2. Yes, but I didn't see producers turning down megacorp money.

For the record, I called the guy's show "thirtynothing." It was as vague and pointless as most of the "relationship dramas" on the air today. It was as much about nothing as <i>Seinfeld.</i>

The megacorporations are ruining TV because there is no competition between producers, and the fact that Mr. Herskovitz got his stuff on the air is a good example. If he was forced to compete against twenty or thirty other production companies to get a network to buy his show, he would have lost, and a better show would have made it on the air.

Instead, an idea gets latched onto - someone in the megacorp structure "likes" it for some reason - and the corporations process it like Velveeta cheese. All the interesting, individual, curious edges get broken off. It's made bland by committee. Then it gets shoved on air, and surprise - it's no different than the other pre-chewed things on the other networks.

Monopoly is never good, especially not for the public, and television programming is a very visible example of it. Media consolidation has to be reversed, monopolies need to be broken up, and we need to have a real battle of ideas again.

[DCKit]

3. The "relaxation" of the Fairness Doctrine???

Shirley, you jest.

The media conglomerates should never have happened and need to be broken up soonest. The right of free speech implies the right to an honest and available flow of information and we're only hearing a single tune from the MSM.

[tiptoe]

4. I am serious. Where do the Democratic candidates stand on these issues?

What does Hillary have to say? It happened during Bill Clinton's administration.

...And don't call me Shirley.

[tiptoe]

5. NB when 'there': Click the second/lower src-link to LATimes for immediate full-article access.

No need to register and/or sign-in first to have access to the full article. Go directly to it, by clicking the lower source-link provided for "more" (at least it works for moi.)