How Women Look On TV (And Why) A new study of the television, analyzing the 2002-3 prime-time season, "found that women made up 22 percent of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged for the last four seasons. Meanwhile, on screen, male characters outnumbered females by almost 2 to 1 (62 percent males, 38 percent females). The women were also younger than the men: 70 percent of all characters in their 40's and 80 percent of those in their 50's were men. Among major characters, only men held political office or were military or religious leaders. A total of 93 percent of business owners were men." The New York Times 11/29/03

Getting Sick: Hollywood's Last Taboo When Hollywood composer Michael Kamen died this month, after a years-long battle with multiple sclerosis, few of the news bulletins reporting his demise were able to give the cause. In fact, the afflictions of Hollywood stars are almost never accurately reported, and the very idea of sickness seems to be almost unacceptable in polite Hollywood society. It's a bizarre taboo, but an undeniable one, and Kamen is only the latest example of a star-studded culture obsessed with health, and unwilling to discuss even the idea of sickness. Seattle Times 11/26/03

A Bollywood Nightmare When Troy Niemans scored a job editing a big-budget Bollywood film, he thought his career was finally taking off. But after less than a month in India, the Canadian editor found himself unpaid, unwanted, and eventually jailed for supposedly stealing from the film company. India's film industry is infamous for its heavy-handed tactics and alleged ties to gangsters and organized crime, but Niemans never suspected that he would become enmeshed in it all. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/26/03

Nielsen Tries To Explain Ratings Drop Why have younger viewers switched off the TV this fall? The ratings are down. So down, in fact, that network execs have begun blaming Nielsen, the ratings company. Now Nielsen has produced a report attempting to explain the dropoff. "The report from Nielsen, which has stoutly defended its data since the complaints from the networks began, found that changes in Nielsen's methodology that started as long as a year and a half ago are partly - but not wholly - to blame for the decline in viewership of network series among men ages 18 to 34." The New York Times 11/25/03

Why Are There So Few Women Directors? "In 2001 only 15 of the 250 top-grossing films were made by women. The reasons for this are mystifying. People suggest that women are less good at the kind of hustling needed to get a movie off the ground; perhaps it is related to the way filmmaking requires an obsessive dedication over a period of years; maybe female directors take time out to have children - and a year off is equivalent to death in the industry." The Telegraph (UK) 11/26/03

Indies Sue Hollywood Over Screeners Ever since Hollywood banned the use of "screeners" - advance copies of films distributed to critics on DVD - movie folk who make their livings outside the world of big corporate studios have been crying foul. This week, the small-timers fought back, filing a lawsuit to overturn the industry ban. "More than a dozen companies joined in the lawsuit against the movie studios' trade group in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Monday, saying the partial ban will 'chill the financing of independent films' by limiting the awards they can receive." CNN (AP) 11/24/03

Seuss Flick Fans Had Best Beware: Product Placement's Everywhere! "The new Cat in the Hat movie makes fun of infomercials and product placement, but the joke rings a bit hollow because the movie has no fewer than 16 corporate sponsors. All Dr. Seuss needed to create one of the most exciting and hilarious stories in the history of literature was 225 vocabulary words, four colors and some imagination. But it takes a zillion-dollar budget to make The Cat in the Hat into a movie, and movie studios do not want to spend any more than they have to... That's why one of this year's biggest and most avidly anticipated holiday releases has turned Seuss' simple story into a marketing bonanza." Chicago Tribune 11/25/03

TV: The Year Of The Flop "For the first time in the 55-year history of prime-time television, no single new network series can be called a hit. Already - only two months into the season - some analysts are characterizing 2003-2004 as The Year of the Flop." Baltimore Sun 11/24/03

When Dali Drew For Disney "An extraordinary cartoon drawn by Salvador Dalí for Walt Disney in 1946 is now being screened for the first time in 57 years at film festivals around the world. “Destino”, a six-minute cartoon that was abandoned by Disney before its completion, has already won the grand prize for best short film at the Melbourne International Film Festival." The Art Newspaper 11/22/03

The Explosion of Online Radio With traditional over-the-air radio fast becoming just another tool of the global corporate music industry, music fans are looking to new technologies to replace the predictable playlists of their local radio stations. The phenomenon of Internet radio, in particular, is becoming increasibly popular, thanks to its easy accessibility and diversity of content. In addition, a savvy webcaster can personalize the content of his stream for listeners in specific regions, which can result in a global webcast that sounds more local than your local radio station. Denver Post 11/23/03

The Trouble With Aussie Film "The perception is that the standard of Australian feature films, and television drama is, in general, slipping. Where are the films with international appeal? Where’s the meaningful TV? The drama isn’t dramatic, some industry insiders point out, and the comedy isn’t funny. Feature film and TV drama production is falling, and local expenditure is down. The TV networks are obsessed with cheap and faddish reality and renovation TV." The Age (Melbourne) 11/20/03

• Is Aussie Film Industry In Trouble? It's been a tough year for Australian films. But is the movie industry in crisis? "Yes, at this stage, it's been nearly 30 years since the so-called 'film renaissance' of the mid-'70s, and we should be producing many more audience-friendly films and far fewer box-office dog whistles, arthouse indulgences and turkeys. Australian film needs to break out of its boutique mentality; its invasion of the multiplex is long overdue. But arrested development does not qualify as a crisis. Not in our book. Not yet." The Age (Melbourne) 11/21/03

A River Of Illegal DVDs In the UK one of every three DVDs sold is said to be an illegal copy. "No one knows exactly how big the market is for bootleg discs, but already this year more than a million copied DVDs have been seized in the UK. Compared to videos, which are bulky and offer compromised quality, the new digital format is a bootlegger's delight. The discs are cheap, light and easy to transport, while copying is quick and quality does not degrade." BBC 11/19/03

New TIFF Director Coming Soon "A new co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival should be named by the first week of December and functioning in his or her new job a month later if the hiring process goes as planned, festival organizers said yesterday... Traditionally, the TIFF has promoted from within its own ranks. But this time it may go outside as the festival prepares to move, in 2006, into a dedicated, five-storey, multimillion-dollar facility in downtown Toronto and to position itself more firmly as the planet's most important film fete." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/19/03

No End In Sight For CD Slump A research group is predicting that the worldwide slump in music sales will continue for at least the next two years, with total sales falling by as much as $500 million in the next year. But the report also predicts that sales will begin to nose upwards in 2006, largely as a result of the anti-piracy efforts of the industry. BBC 11/19/03

• Indies Slumping, Too In Boston, two major music stores owned by national chains have closed, amid much gnashing of media teeth over the state of the industry. But independent record stores, which depend on a small cadre of loyal customers to survive, are dropping like flies in the city, and no one seems to notice or care. "To counter falling sales, managers are cutting their staffs, strengthening their services, pricing their CDs competitively, and expanding stock to include videos, DVDs, and clothing." Boston Globe 11/19/03

Australian Movie Slump The Australian film industry has had one of its worst years in a long time. "Record low levels of foreign finance contributed to a fall from 30 to 19 features, the fewest for eight years. Their total value slumped from $131 million to $49 million." Sydney Morning Herald 11/18/03

Seuss The Movie Seussical didn't exactly turn the heads of fans of the late Dr. Seuss. Undaunted, producers are attempting a movie version of "The Cat in the Hat." The risks are considerable. "We didn't want to have children despise us. Everyone loves this book, and if the movie isn't that good, people will get hostile." New York Daily News 11/16/03

The Tiny Film That Made A Huge Impact The film showing the assasination of John Kennedy 40 years ago is only 26 seconds long - 494 tiny frames. But its impact on American culture was huge. "The Zapruder film has wormed itself so deeply into the culture that many of the pathways it opened are no longer visible. Still, enough traces of its legacy can be seen — from rampant paranoia about government and disgust with the news media to a loss of faith in photographic truth and the acceptance of graphic violence as part of the movie experience — that recognition of its legacy is in order 40 years later." The New York Times 11/16/03

The Worst Of Stage On Screen A project from the 1970s to film some of the best stage productions and offer it as movies, hoped to offer the best of each medium. "Instead of combining the best of Hollywood and Broadway, it combined the worst. There were basically two ways of shooting theater before AFT came along (and after live television went the way of the horse-drawn carriage). The networks and public television would videotape a play in the theater or on a soundstage, hoping to capture the intimacy and general feel of live theater. Conversely, when the film industry shot a play or musical -- Mike Nichols's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" or Olivier's "Richard III" -- it would be "opened up" and shot on location to look less stagy." Boston Globe 11/16/03

Angelic Indictment Okay, so fans of Ronald Reagan got CBS to dump a biopic from its schedule. Frank Rich writes that an upcoming TV version of "Angels in America" is far more searing and controversial. "This epic is, among other things, a searing indictment of how the Reagan administration's long silence stoked the plague of AIDS in the 1980's. If "Angels" reaches an audience typical for HBO hits, it could detonate a debate bloody enough to make the fight over "The Reagans" look like an exhibition bout. That's not such a big if. "Angels" is the most powerful screen adaptation of a major American play since Elia Kazan's "Streetcar Named Desire" more than a half-century ago." The New York Times 11/16/03

Proposal: Hard Time For File Traders A proposed law in the US Congress would punish those who distribute copyrighted movies or music ahead of their release dates with jail time of up to five years. "Unauthorized copies of movies often turn up in flea markets and online 'peer to peer' networks, such as Kazaa, shortly after they are released, thanks to audience members who smuggle camcorders into theaters. In other cases, industry insiders post movies and albums online before they are officially released, throwing promotional plans into disarray." Wired 11/14/03

The World's Top Directors Who are the best movie directors in the world? The Guardian makes a list of the top 40. Let's see... there's David Lynch, and... The Guardian (UK) 11/14/03

Cultural Divide - Movie Critics Go To Battle Over Screeners The Motion Picture Academy's decision not to send DVD copies of movies to critics juding awards has provoked movie critics like no other issue in recent years. "Movie critics are flooding colleagues' computers with e-mails carrying subject lines like "United we stand" and "On strikes and self-immolation," not to mention "Shame!" Some critics' associations have canceled their year-end awards in protest. I know these people, and I assure you they're nice, civilized folks. But we critics can sting when we feel wronged, and passions are running high." Christian Science Monitor 11/14/03

Mexico Arts Funding Cuts? - Overwhelmed By American Culture The president of Mexico proposes slashing arts funding. "President Vicente Fox's proposal to get rid of everything from government-owned movie studios to the national news agency has sparked fears that Mexico will be overwhelmed by an American cultural invasion. We will be left to the mercy and whims of distributors of Hollywood's worst productions." CNN 11/13/03

Is The Canadian Bloom Off The Hollywood Rose? "Hollywood studios are threatening to pull all of their film productions from Quebec if they can't resolve their conflict with the Quebec producers association. Local industry players are taking the threat very seriously, given that Hollywood producers spent a record $368 million in Montreal last year. The studios are seeing red because the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec wants to force them to be represented by the Quebec group when the Americans film there." Montreal Gazette 11/13/03

TV's Eye-dea Of Good Apartment Taste Why is it that all those "fix-up" shows (Queer Eye... et al) make the apartments they redo look more or less the same? "Almost anywhere can be improved with a bit of judicious gardening, a slap of paint and some maintenance. No argument there. But the overarching pretension of some of these programs makes them vastly amusing. They aren't just fixing up a place, they act as though they are saving the world." The Age (Melbourne) 11/12/03

Greek TV Fined For Showing Men Kissing A Greek TV network has been heavily fined after showing a program in which two men kissed. "The National Radio and Television Council which imposed the fine called the scene 'vulgar and unacceptable'. But TV critic Popi Diamandakou called the decision 'hypocritical' after shots of Britney Spears kissing Madonna at the MTV Awards were repeatedly shown." BBC 11/12/03

You Mean, American TV Isn't Always Original? No one can copyright a concept, which is why so many American TV shows can legally be nothing but mock-ups of already successful foreign programs. But a Canadian television network appears to think that CBS crossed the line this fall when it released Cold Case, a new cop show which bears several striking resemblances to a 6-year-old CTV program called Cold Squad. Both shows center around similar-looking female detectives who fight criminals and their own sexist co-workers in roughly equal measures as they attempt to uncover new leads in stalled cases. Oh, and the writer who came up with Cold Case did so right after attending a writing seminar in Canada. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/12/03

Yeah, Those Bong Close-Ups Are Always A Bad Sign Film festival organizers may be as enthusiastic about film as a person can be, but they still have only 24 hours in their day, and that's just not enough time to watch every minute of every movie that comes across their desks. So how do the honchos decide which films make the cut? It's all about those first few minutes, says one festival organizer, and "if any video from the teetering stack in her living room begins with images of a gun, a bong, a pimp or a whore, she hits the eject button." Chicago Tribune 11/12/03

Cleaning Up The Red Tape "The music industry announced a 'one-stop' international license for online radio broadcasters Tuesday, hoping the removal of red tape will encourage the rise of legitimate Web music services. Previously, online radio broadcasters, or webcasters, had to secure approval from an alphabet soup of national collection agencies... Webcasters have argued that until the number of licensing fees is reduced, the nascent broadcasting sector will never gain the critical commercial mass of its over-the-air cousins." Wired 11/11/03

The Big Get Bigger Universal Music has announced plans to acquire Dreamworks Records, in yet another music industry consolidation seen to represent the desperation of many companies in the struggling recording business. "The music business is currently going through major changes as it struggles to counter falling sales and the impact of unofficial online music sales. Last week, Sony Music - the second-largest music company - said it was planning to merge with Bertelsmann. EMI and Warner Music have also been in talks about a possible merger." BBC 11/11/03

MTV's Stolen Data MTV's Music Awards - televised from the UK - were a big success last week. But some of the shine was taken off the occasion after an MTV computer containing important data for the production was stolen. "Dozens of local firms who acted as suppliers for MTV face delays in being paid because e-mail records of what they are due have gone." The Scotsman 11/11/03

Moonves: CBS Didn't Cave On Reagan Pic CBS chairman Les Moonves denies that his network caved in to political pressure when it canceled a Reagan bio-pic. "It was a moral decision, not an economic or political one. The series did not present a balanced view of former President Reagan and his wife Nancy, Mr Moonves stated." BBC 11/11/03

No More Fund Drives? Dream On. So, now that NPR has $200 million of the late Joan Kroc's money, it can stop holding those awful on-air beg-a-thons, right? Wrong. While fans of the public radio network may be dreaming ecstatically of what that kind of money could do for listeners, NPR execs are hoping that, if anything, the Kroc gift will inspire more large donations. There is also some fear of a backlash: NPR is not popular with the Republicans currently in charge of Congress, and many would like to see the network's public funding eliminated. New York Daily News 11/11/03

Sony's Latest Gamble Sony is preparing to begin selling a new type of copy-protected CD in Germany, with hopes to expand worldwide if consumers embrace the new technology. The CDs do not allow users to share their contents on illegal file-swapping sites, but contain a compressed digital copy of the music which individual consumers can "rip" to their computers and later download to Sony-based portable music players. In what has become a familiar dance, the company is calling its new CDs a breakthrough for consumers, and consumer groups opposed to copy protection of any sort are claiming that the discs can cause computers to malfunction, and are unfairly limiting in any case. Wired (Reuters) 11/10/03

What NPR Ought To Do With Its Money The Boston Globe editorial page offers some suggestions to NPR on what to spend some of its $200 million windfall: "Bring back music and culture programming. NPR's news reports are thoughtful and compelling. Its talk shows are topical and a nice way to bring listeners into conversations. And "Car Talk" is great entertainment. But occasionally all this talk is wearying. Balance could be provided by music shows and radio documentaries." Boston Globe 11/10/03

Voters - Wanna See A Movie? With the Motion Picture Academy declining to send DVD copies of movies to voters of awards, studios are getting creative about getting voters in front of their pitcures. Backstage 11/10/03

"Weapons Of Singing Destruction" Arab music videos are sexy and alluring. But they're also controversial in the Arab world. "This is a direct challenge to the forces of traditional Arab culture, which in many places remains an environment of constricted, traditional, and narrowly defined identities, often subsumed in group identities that hinge on differences with, and antagonism toward, other groups. Many Arab observers of these videos recognize the nature of that challenge, which is why one critic calls these videos 'weapons of singing destruction'." Reason 10/28/03

Hollywood Needs To Change (Or Else) Why are the entertainment companies so resistant to change? "The entertainment business prides itself on absorbing and exploiting virtually every youth culture trend. But when it comes to revamping its business model, Hollywood can be as resistant to change as Detroit automakers or the steel industry. When TV sets appeared in living rooms in the late 1940s, movie studios panicked, treating the new medium with the same disdain and distrust that executives today have for baby-faced Internet downloaders. How could we possibly survive, the old moguls moaned, trying to compete with something that is free? Hollywood survived and flourished in the new medium." Los Angeles Times 11/09/03

Art As An Agenda (CBS' Troubling Move) "CBS' startling decision this week to pull the broadcast plug on the biographical drama (as distinct from biographical documentary) "The Reagans," following an extensive campaign by conservative activists alleging the movie was "inaccurate" and "unfair" to the former president, reflects a dazzling and immensely troubling lack of awareness of the sacred importance of this vital cultural freedom. Furthermore, such preemptive, content-driven attacks on works of art are on the rise in America." Chicago Tribune 11/09/03

Tanking Ratings Threaten TV Industry Where have millions of US TV viewers disappeared? This fall's ratings are down 8-10 percemt. "If this is true, it's a seismic shift. Some of these numbers scare you. And there are billions of dollars in national advertising at stake. When they sell ads, networks pledge that they can deliver a certain number of viewers in certain demographics; if they fail to meet the numbers as tallied by Nielsen, they have to run more ads - 'make-goods' - at no cost. If you go back and you look at TV viewing patterns over the past 10 years, it's very unusual for viewing levels to change more than 2 or 3 percent over time." Chicago Tribune 11/09/03

• The End Of Free TV? In the US, "the season's nearly 40 new shows have again failed to yield a consensus "hit," and according to the Nielsen Media Research firm that measures TV viewing, young men in particular seem to be abandoning the tube in stunning proportions. In the gloomiest interpretations of these omens, they signal the beginning of the end of free, over-the-air television, because shrinking audiences at some point will have to mean declining revenue from the ads that have given viewers a free or relatively cheap ride. Put more simply, that would be: Goodbye broadcasting, hello pay-per-view!" Chicago Tribune 11/09/03

Mc-NPR? Public Broadcaster Celebrates Employees of National Public Radio were stunned by the $200 million gift left by Joan Kroc. "NPR employees celebrated the news by eating takeout McDonald's for lunch yesterday. 'When I heard about the scope of it, I was almost speechless - a dangerous state in my line of work,' said longtime NPR host Susan Stamberg. 'This was totally unexpected.' She joked that she was changing her name to 'McStamberg'. Before her death last month at 75, Kroc, widow of McDonald's mastermind Ray Kroc, had committed her attention and some of her $1.7 billion fortune to charity." Washington Post 11/07/03

• NPR's Unexpected Bounty What will National Public Radio do with the $200 million gift it got from the estate of the late Joan Kroc? "Kevin Klose, the president and chief executive of NPR, said that the broadcasting company had yet to decide how the money would be spent. For now, he said, 'most of it will not be spent; it is to be saved.' He added that the NPR board would discuss how to spend the interest earned by the money. At an annual rate of 5 percent, it would generate about $10 million a year." The New York Times 11/07/03

Bias, Shmias - American Media Cowers In Corner "This week, CBS decided that the camp, unsubtle mini-series The Reagans was too hot to handle. Dissent is out of the question, then. A fanatically conservative cabal of Republican politicians, officials and shrill, finger-wagging conservative commentators, has imposed an orthodoxy. There are ludicrous accusations of 'bias' in everything from news stories to opinion columns and now a TV miniseries, for heaven's sake. The mere accusation of bias is enough to shut up some of the accused." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/07/03

Finding Nemo Sells At Record Pace Finding Nemo has become the fastest-selling DVD and tape of all time. "The film sold more than eight million copies in the first day of US release, beating the record held by Spider-Man. Nemo is the most profitable cartoon in US cinema history and the biggest hit of the year at US box offices." BBC 11/06/03

The Great Turnoff - Viewers Abandon TV Viewers are deserting broadcast TV in large numbers, particularly in the most desirable demographic. "Overall viewership is down nearly 10 percent from a year ago - a record low. (The decline is limited primarily to the six broadcast networks: basic and pay cable appear to be holding steady.) The new fall shows are being felled left and right." What's the big turnoff? Christian Science Monitor 11/07/03

Something New To Annoy Bill O'Reilly National Public Radio has received an enormous gift from the will of the late philanthropist Joan Kroc, amounting to more than twice the network's annual operating budget. The gift of $200 million came as a total shock to NPR staffers, who are speculating that the money could be used to rescue several music and culture programs which fell to the budget axe this year. Alternatively, the network could decide to use the gift, which seems to have no strings attached, to expand its focus on news and information programming. NPR's board will meet in the next several weeks to decide how the bequest will be spent. Washington Post 11/06/03

Miscalculating Reagan How did the CBS Reagan mini-series get to be so controversial? "The producers of 'The Reagans' were so intent on re-examining their subject's legacy that they missed the missile-defense shield surrounding Mr. Reagan, now incapacitated by Alzheimer's disease. He is not just a beloved former president; he is the Moses of the conservative movement. Rather than treading lightly, the stars gloated about how controversial their film would be." The New York Times 11/06/03

Special Screeners - Newly Hot "Special screenings are hardly a new idea. Publicist Peggy Siegal, considered by some to be the mother of this invention, has been doing them for more than 20 years. But their importance to film marketers—especially those with smaller budget art-house movies—has supersized in the last 30 days. Film marketing was already a difficult gambit in a 24/7 world of celebrity stimuli and instant, online gratification, but last month the Motion Picture Association of America made it even more difficult when it decided to severely limit how film distributors could raise the awareness of their films and still be considered for the one of the best marketing tools out there, an Oscar nomination." New York Observer 11/05/03

BBC Viewers Vote Titanic The Worst Movie Ever The movie Titanic, released in 1997 starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has raked in the biggest box office in history - $1.8bn (£1.1bn) at global box offices - almost twice as much as its nearest rival. But that didn't stop BBC1 viewers from voting it the worst movie in history. BBC 11/05/03

Reagan Miniseries Exiled To Pay Cable "Capping an extraordinary furor over a movie virtually no one has seen, CBS scrapped plans Tuesday to televise "The Reagans" and decided to shunt it off to the Showtime cable network instead. Based on snippets of the script that had leaked out in recent weeks, conservatives accused CBS of distorting the legacy of the former president." Chicago Sun-Times 11/05/03

FCC Approves Anti-Pirate Flag The Federal Communications Commission has approved a controversial plan to allow broadcasters to insert a digital "flag" into their television programs which would prevent consumers from distributing digital copies of the program over peer-to-peer file trading services. Privacy advocates had argued that the plan infringed on the "fair use" rights of the public, but the FCC determined that U.S. copyright law made it legal for restrictions to be placed on just what consumers can do with the pictures that come across their TV screens. Wired 11/04/03

No More Free Money For Fake Brit Films "Film-makers who abuse the system of tax breaks for British films are facing a crackdown by the UK Government. Films that are British or co-produced by Britain get tax relief in the UK. But the government suspects some co-productions of falsely claiming to spend more in the UK to qualify, while others do not give value for money." BBC 11/05/03

MTV Downloadable? Is MTV threatened by music download sites like iTunes? The music channel plans to launch a service of downloadable MTV. "There's no doubt it's a strong brand, with a strong profile of viewers. But they can't rely solely on their brand come next year ... After iTunes launched in April, MTV should have been like a hawk on a field mouse." Wired 11/04/03

The FCC's Big Media Misstep The Federal Communications Commission isn't used to being a magnet for controversy. Although the FCC and its 5-member board has near-complete control over the nation's broadcast spectrum, its rulings have frequently gone unnoticed by the vast majority of the American public. But this year, "the FCC broke its traditional lockstep and experienced a very public 3-to-2 split in June votes that narrowly endorsed six media-ownership rule changes, including one that would allow a single network to control television stations reaching 45 percent of all American households." The reaction from the public was dramatic and negative, and the resulting fallout has put FCC chairman Michael Powell on the defensive. The Nation 11/17/03

CBS Considers Dropping "Reagan" BBS is apparently considering dropping the airing of a mini-series on Ronald Reagan, after conservative groups protested that they believe the program to be biased against the former US president. "The possible cancellation of the mini-series was first reported on Monday in Daily Variety. A CBS spokesman declined to comment, and it was unclear why the network would consider bowing to pressure." The New York Times 11/04/03

Florida Public Radio Station Attacked Over Dropping Music South Florida public radio station WLRN recently replaced some music programming with news from the BBC, prompting charges of racism from some listeners. "It has also raised questions about whether the publicly licensed station's programming should be aimed at drawing in the largest number of listeners, the goal of commercial stations, or serving smaller fragments of South Florida's ethnic and cultural mosaic." Miami Herald 11/03/03

MTV And The Culture Of Total Worldwide Domination "The world is the way it is because of MTV. The world is pop. It all happened at some point in the 1960s, or the 1970s, or the 1980s. Plenty of magazines argue about when exactly this point was (these magazines are published because of MTV). But it was not until the revolution began to be televised in the early 1980s, as something called MTV, that everyone began to appreciate how much the world had gone pop." The Scotsman 11/02/03

Minorities Fail To Gain On TV "In its third annual report on minority hiring, "Out of Focus, Out of Sync," the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People found that gains made in entertainment-industry practices in front of the camera were counteracted by the dearth of minority employees in other jobs." Rocky Mountain News 11/02/03

TV Nation (Even The Toddlers) Are children spending too much time in front of their TVs? A new study says: "Children from 6 months to 6 years old spend, on average, two hours a day with TV, video games and computers - about the same as they spend playing outdoors and three times what they spend reading or being read to, according to the survey of 1,065 parents released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The phenomenon, said the Kaiser researchers, can be linked to the relatively recent avalanche of videos and TV shows aimed at viewers too young to know the difference between Einstein and Elmo." Philadelphia Inquirer 11/02/03

Rings Power NZ Economy The Lord of the Rings movies have meant an economic boom for New Zealand. "The Tolkien fanatics have kept coming with pockets full of cash, desperate to see the place where the trilogy's hero, Frodo Baggins, began his daring journey to vanquish the forces of evil by destroying the One Ring. Much of the payoff was tied directly to the estimated $500 million spent to make the three movies, the third of which will hit theaters in December. For a time, the production employed 23,000 workers, making it the largest private employer in New Zealand. Then came the tourists, and scores of new restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts to cater to them." Boston Globe 11/02/03

Media Blames - Journalist As Bad Guy Journalists occupy low standing in the public mind these days. Ok, they've acted badly from time to time, and their preoccupation with entertaining rather than informing us is often grating. But the entertainment media has latched on to the journalist-as-bad-guy theme, and it isn't exactly fair (or accurate) writes Frank Rich. The New York Times 11/02/03