Archives for December 2004

Hilarious if a joke, sad if serious

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claim that Morrissey was able to predict Princess Diana’s death in lyrics to The Queen Is Dead because he was contacted by aliens. Link.

Dec 11, 2004 | Comments Off

CNN sucking a little less

If I wasn’t “into ideas” and for some reason pursuing a legal career, I would be in marketing. I know, I know. What’s wrong with me? What could be worse than lawyers if not marketers? But I love the mixture of psychology and economics and art that is good marketing. How to make people do what you want by showing them the right pictures and pushing their buttons. It’s like creating religions from scratch. (Take Apple for example, obviously one of my favorite corporate images.)

That said, one of my favorite columns on the Web is Slate’s “Ad Report Card” by Seth Stevenson. It deconstructs and critiques the latest ad campaigns on TV. Stevenson is usually right on target, making keen observations. Today, however, he gave CNN’s new ads for CNN.com a C+, and I think that’s too harsh. (Check out the ads here.) I agree completely that the ads are very unclear about what they’re selling, which is fatal, but he denies in his article the most striking thing about them: they’re hilarious!

They feature CNN personalities at people’s workplaces giving them the news at their desks. The idea is that with CNN.com, you always have “The Power of CNN Under Your Command.” (Which Stevenson very funnily calls an “awkward, slightly militaristic tag line.”) What they end up doing, though, is showing that these anchors and reporters have a great sense of humor. The spot with Wolf Blitzer and a cute high-pitched woman that is dismissive about the news he has to report is precious. So is the one with Christianne Amanpour correcting a woman’s pronunciation of “Iran” and “Iraq.” Stevenson says this is insulting of the audience; I think it humanizes Amanpour, even if she is overbearing.

Stevenson complains that these ads don’t give you a reason to choose CNN over Fox or some other outlet. I think they do. Probably misleadingly, they make you feel that watching CNN will be fun. Kind of like the Daily Show, I guess, except not fake. That’s an interesting, if likely unsuccessful, attempt at product differentiation.

Dec 6, 2004 | Comment

Leave Powell alone. No, the other one.

But leave Michael Powell alone.In his usual reactionary manner, Dan Gilmore calls Michael Powell’s NYT op-ed this week “insulting and scary” and endorses Jeff Jarvis’ line-by-line rebuttal of it as “solid.” I think broadcast decency laws are unnecessary at best, but it vexes me how worked up people get about Powell.

If there is one good thing that happened as a result of Bush’s re-election, it’s that Michael Powell will hopefully get to stay on a little longer as FCC chairman. He is a friend to competition and new technologies and has a real enthusiasm for both. Unfortunately for him, he becomes the personification of censorship and prudishness because he is the head of the FCC, which is charged by Congress to play nanny to the airwaves.

I’m sure he considers that aspect of his job an annoyance, and I doubt he much cares about Janet Jackson’s boob or Howard Stern’s potty mouth. He’s got other things—like cable broadband deregulation—on his mind. But as he explains in his op-ed, just one complaint from a citizen will launch an investigation. The law is nuts and, as Powell says, critics of the law should try to get it changed, not criticize the FCC for carrying out its statutory duty (which it thankfully does half-heartedly, I might add).

Additionally, the “escalating calls for the government to enforce indecency laws aggressively” that Powell speaks of are coming from Congress, not the American people. Again, as he points out, the “culture war” plays well and it is easy for politicians (with the help of the media) to take a stand against butt-sex and not have to talk about Social Security reform or the war.

Folks concerned about free speech should be thankful to have Powell because he is what stands between us and Michael Copps, the Decomcratic commissioner who might have been Chairman in a Kerry Administration. Copps is a populist who has made a crusade of indecency. Here he is from a warm feature on Focus on the Family’s website:

There is no First Amendment right to own a broadcast station or license that’s not in the public interest. There’s no First Amendment right to broadcast material that is contrary to the law of the land. So I do sometimes take umbrage at those who think all they have to do is say “First Amendment” and I’m going to run away.

Powell’s op-ed was neither scary nor insulting, it was sensical. Thinking people should get off his case and try to change the law, if that is what is important to them. Better, however, would be to focus one’s attention on changing the complete culture of the country, which is drifting towards zealous ignorance. The indecency issue is just one symptom of that.

Dec 4, 2004 | Comment

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