Category: media

ABC-TV has been under fire this week for its new “docudrama” about the path America’s leaders followed in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks. Tim Rutten says that the network deserves exactly what it’s gotten: “[ABC] somehow thought it could approach the most wrenching American tragedy since Pearl Harbor with the values that prevail among network television executives — the sort of ad hoc ethics that would make a streetwalker blush — and that nobody would mind.”

The Toronto International Film Festival is completely overrun by angry liberals this year, and the films being featured, while diverse in some ways, seem to have a distinct sameness of message, “attacking President Bush or the protracted war in Iraq — in subtle ways and like sledgehammers, with vitriol and with dispassionate fly-on-the-wall observation.”

This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival won’t be short on controversy: films to be screened will include one about the assassination of George W. Bush; several about pedophilia, bestiality, and rape; and plenty of politics.

An ABC TV movie about the 9/11 attacks has stirred the national political pot, and the network has been making last-minute changes in an effort to address allegations of bias and inaccuracy from some on the left. “The movie dramatizes what it deems intelligence and operational failures of the Clinton and Bush administrations, relying heavily on public records… [But ABC] is tip-toeing away from the film’s version of events. In a statement, the network said the miniseries ‘is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published materials and from personal interviews.'”

Two of public radio’s most widely listened-to classical music programs are jumping halfway across the country. “Performance Today” and “SymphonyCast” have been dumped by the increasingly news-oriented National Public Radio, and will soon begin being produced by American Public Media, the national distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio, which also distributes “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Marketplace,” and many other widely heard programs. “Performance Today” has been dropped by a number of stations over the last few years as classical music has become a tough sell with local stations.

“Thanks to widely circulated Web videos of the stunt, the soft drink and candy were joined at the hip this summer. In the aftermath, the companies took divergent paths: Perfetti Van Melle, maker of Mentos, quickly moved to align itself with the consumer phenomenon, while Coke kept a studied distance. The reactions are illustrative of the uncertainties advertisers face in the new world of consumer-generated media, where they need to define what, if any, role they should play when consumers assert control of their brands.”

“Apple, which invigorated online music with its iTunes store, is expected to reveal plans next week to offer downloadable movies from Walt Disney Co. Amazon has agreements with at least three of the other major studios to offer movies at its online store, expected to be announced as early as Thursday.”

Hollywood used to live on larger-than-life heroes. No more. “Where have all the action heroes gone? They certainly haven’t gone to be soldiers; no, they’ve gone to be sensitive, not so much in the touchy-feely way, but in that way that strikes at their essence. They no longer dominate.”

Movie industry workers are asking for payment for content that is streamed. “Because streaming is best viewed as merely promotional in nature, network execs argue, actors, writers and directors are thus owed no extra payments for Internet-repurposed programming. It’s a contention that closely follows an argument over which formula to use for residuals on Internet and iPod downloads of movies and TV shows.”

“Active engagement with television has been an antidote to criticism that the tube creates zombies. ‘Blue’s Clues,’ which celebrated its 10th anniversary last month, has been credited with helping young children learn from the screen. Academic research has shown that viewers ages 3 to 5 score better on tests of problem solving than those who haven’t watched the show. But what happens with children younger than 3? Should babies and toddlers be exposed to television at all? … While debates rage among parents, pediatricians and critics of baby videos (think ‘Baby Einstein’), developmental psychologists are trying to apply some science to the question.”