A Shocker: Australians Say Commercials Would Be Fine On ABC The state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been doing some polling of its viewers. "The results have been startling. According to the research, the ABC's adoption of commercial advertising would receive majority support from viewers. One December 2003 focus poll showed that 72 per cent of viewers approve of introducing advertising to the ABC. Of that percentage, 54 per cent stated a strong preference for the ABC to take greater responsibility for generating its own funding." The Age (Melbourne) 04/01/04

After f/X - The Movies Held Hostage What's wrong with movies today? They've been kidnapped by special effects, writes Denis Dutton. "Producers are stuck in the upward spiral of an endless special-effects arms race, with demands for bigger explosions, uglier villains, more frenzied, realistic violence, louder noises and ever-expanding battle scenes. A computer-generated crowd, according to the Hollywood rule, must not be smaller than the crowds in last month's releases." So what about plot? Character? Acting, anyone? New Zealand Herald 03/31/04

How To Protect Your Children, The V-Chip Way The last time that Americans and their government got their knickers in a twist over supposedly "obscene" content on television, the result of the brouhaha was the much-heralded V-Chip, which was mandated for all new TV sets, and which provided concerned parents with a way to prevent their children from viewing inappropriate programming, even when unsupervised. But, in what could be seen as a measure of just how much ordinary Americans actually care about this issue, it turns out that virtually no one uses their V-chip, and many parents don't even know (or care) how to turn it on. So the government has launched a new ad campaign to tell viewers all about it. Los Angeles Times 03/31/04

France Joins The Lawsuit Party France's recording industry (which goes by the snappy acronym SNEP) has announced that it will follow the lead of the American and British industries and begin suing consumers who illegally download and share music online. In recent days, an international recording federation sued 247 people in Italy, Germany, Canada, and Denmark, and the U.S.-based RIAA has sued more than a thousand file-swappers over the past year. The decision by French companies to jump into the fray is significant, because "French law does not offer the same levels of protection to copyright holders as British and American laws afford." Wired 03/31/04

Paramount Shows The Money It's been quite a while since Paramount Pictures decided to cede the blockbuster ground to other Hollywood studios, and to content itself with a product comprising something less than top-flight material and A-list stars. But "after many years of putting out formulaic, B-grade thrillers fueled by a philosophy of sticking to mid-range budgets and lesser-known stars, Paramount is on a mission to turn things around," and they're putting out the word that they're not afraid to spend whatever it takes. The New York Times 03/31/04

TV Nation "Television viewers worldwide spent 15 minutes more per day glued to their screens in 2003 than in the previous year, bringing global average viewing time to three hours and 39 minutes daily, according to figures released today. Based on eight hours of sleep, that means the average viewer spends almost a quarter of their waking hours in front of the TV - and maybe a few of the sleeping ones as well." Sydney Morning Herald 03/30/04

TV: It's A Gay Old Time Gay culture is hip on TV, where it's become a popular part of mainstream TV fare. Why? "A number of factors have coalesced to fuel the mainstream media's appetite for all things fabulous. Not least the fact that gay culture is frequently viewed as more trend-savvy, fashion-forward and rampantly creative than the rather dreary heterosexual one - which, quite frankly, is screaming out for a good zhuzhing." Sydney Morning Herald 03/31/04

World's First Maori TV Channel New Zealand has launched the first Maori TV channel. "The government-funded station aims to preserve the culture of New Zealand's indigenous people, who make up around 12.5% of the country's four million population. Half of the station's programmes must be in Maori, which is now spoken by fewer than a tenth of Maoris." BBC 03/30/04

NPR's Edwards Problem National Public Radio is taking a public beating over its announcement that Bob Edwards is being replaced as host of Morning Edition. "NPR is suffering a severe credibility loss because of the inexplicability of this management move. There is no rational explanation to anyone else outside National Public Radio as to why this should be done." And yet, NPR member stations have been criticizing the show for years. "You would not have been able to go to a gathering where representatives of member stations were present and not hear talk about how 'Morning Edition' could be improved. I think management has done due diligence on the whole thing." Los Angeles Times 03/29/04

NPR Stations Wanted Edwards Out? National Public Radio has been feeling the brunt of listener unhappiness over the announcement that Bob Edwartds would be leaving as host of Morning Edition. "NPR, based in Washington, has received more than 17,000 calls and e-mail messages from angry listeners, its officials said." So why was the move made? "In recent years, several station managers confirmed, some member stations have voiced concerns to NPR management that Mr. Edwards, who has served as host of Morning Edition from its beginnings in 1979, often seemed less engaged on the air." The New York Times 03/30/04

Missing Men - Abandoning TV For Online "The television industry was shaken last October when the ratings from Nielsen Media Research showed that a huge part of a highly prized slice of the American population was watching less television. As the fall TV season began, viewership among men from 18 to 34 fell 12 percent compared with the year before, Nielsen reported. And for the youngest group of adult men, those 18 to 24, the decline was a steeper 20 percent." And where did they go? They're having fun with other technology. The New York Times 03/29/04

Judge Allows "Passion" To Be Shown In France A French judge has declined to ban the showing of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in France. Opponents of showing the film argued that the movie would incite anti-Semitism. "However Judge Florence Lagemi ruled on Monday that the film, due to be released in France on Wednesday, was not a threat to public order." BBC 03/29/04

At The Movies - Oldsters Rule! The movies had a good year last year. But the surprise in the statistics was that "the 50-59 demographic enjoyed the biggest increase in movie-going for any age group last year, with a 20 percent hike in attendance." And what does it mean? You can expect to see more movies appealing to older people... Orange County Register 03/28/04

The Morality Police Are Out In Force What's up with the puritanical morality that seems now to be guiding American TV execs (and politicians)? "A return to the wholesome, old days when married sitcom couples slept in separate beds, Elvis could only be shot from the waist up and Liberace was merely a flamboyant performer who, for some reason, never married is surely upon us. And indeed, American broadcasters have already taken the hint and begun hastily trimming or rewriting any programming that could be construed as triple-X smut stuff." Toronto Star 03/28/04

Pittsburgh's Pioneering Public TV Turns 50 Pittsburgh's WQED was a pioneering experimental TV station infused with loads of community pride when it went on the air in 1954. In a half century the station has enjoyed premiere status as one of the country's best public broadcasters and sunk to underfunded depths. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 03/28/04

Media Obscenity: We Object! (Don't We?) Linda Winer wonders why the media obscenity crackdown currently underway in the US isn't being objected to by more people. "The vise is tightening again on freedoms that, at this late date, a grown-up country should not be forced to keep defending. The FCC, temporarily distracted from efforts to allow even further consolidation of Big Brother media companies, is zealously pursuing the revival of standards-and-practice departments - you know, the old in-house decency police - for radio and network TV." Newsday 03/28/04

Does Media Consolidation Equal Obscenity? "For years, media consolidation was one of those issues considered worthy of debate only by policy wonks and public interest groups. The general public rarely stopped to read sober-minded studies, such as the one done after the 2002 elections, which found that 60% of the top-rated local news broadcasts had failed to devote one second to campaign coverage. But after Janet Jackson's Super Bowl antics shone a spotlight on Viacom's MTV-CBS hegemony, people began to connect the Big Media dots. The Super Bowl had more of a galvanizing effect on the media and the FCC than it did on grass-roots America. Ordinary citizens were already upset. For the past three years, when I boot up my computer each morning, I see dozens of complaints about what was on TV the night before. We're just catching up." Los Angeles Times 03/28/04

Art Of The Film Credit Consider the film credit: "At their best, they use the requisite list of names and credits as a mere leaping-off point for clever experiments in graphic design, typography and kinetic wizardry." The New York Times 03/28/04

Info-Edu-Propa-tainment - If It's All The Same To You... The lines between news, comedy, propoganda and entertainment are so blurred these days, it's sometimes difficult to tell them apart, writes Frank Rich. "At such absurd moments, and they are countless these days in our 24/7 information miasma, real journalism and its evil twin merge into a mind-bending mutant that would defy a polygraph's ability to sort out the lies from the truth." The New York Times 03/28/04

Generation X, Generation Mellow? Generation X movie-makers are generally been known for their ironic take on the world. But as they grow older, there are signs that that defining sttitude may be mellowing... St. Louis Post-Dispatch 03/28/04

New Tactic: File-Sharers Are REALLY REALLY Bad Guys The recording and film inductries are pressuring the US Congress to make file-sharing peer-to-peer networks illegal, and lawmakers are complying, introducing bills that suggest file-sharing networks are the haunts of terrorists, pornographers and big bad evildoers. "In defending the Pirate Act, Senator Orrin Hatch said the operators of P2P networks are running a conspiracy in which they lure children and young people with free music, movies and pornography. With these "human shields," the P2P companies are trying to ransom the entertainment industries into accepting their networks as a distribution channel and source of revenue." Wired 03/27/04

Ellerbee: Breaking NPR's Morning Edition Linda Ellerbee writes that NPR has succumbed to ageism. "This week, National Public Radio, apparently acting on the theory that if it's not broke, break it, announced that Bob Edwards was no longer its choice to host "Morning Edition," the program he began, shaped and — for the last 25 years — informed with his intelligence, wit and grace. Although nobody came right out and said so, it's clear that the new honchos at NPR believe the man whose voice has soothed millions of us into day after day of too much reality is, at 56, too old for the task. Were the ratings sinking, perhaps? They were not. "Morning Edition's" audience grew by 41% in the last five years; Edwards' is the most-listened-to morning radio program in the U.S." Los Angeles Times 03/26/04

Escape To Reality (On The Screen) Movie documentaries are hot these days. "At a time when mainstream Hollywood movies have never been more defensively fortified against any leaks from the outside world, when everything seems spawned by computers, designed by corporate merchandisers and inspired by comic book fantasy, even the editorial manipulations of documentary come as a bracing, flesh-affirming alternative." Toronto Star 03/26/04

The Meaning Of Games... Awww, Why'd You Have To Ruin It? Interactive computer games have taken over; they're a huge hit, and academics have begun studying them for what they mean for the larger culture. "They're a form of interactive storytelling. There's performance involved when you play the game. And they obviously have powerful visual elements. I think some games are, frankly, very beautiful." Some gamers, though, find the attention absurd. "It is a sensibility that strikes some in the game world as off the wall. Trying to strap meaning onto entertainment sometimes can be ridiculous." Los Angeles Times 03/26/04

Video Games Meet The Movies Some $20 billion worth of video games were sold last year. Games now outsell movies, and games now look more and more like the movies. "The convergence between films and games makes sense for many reasons. Both special-effects-laden blockbusters and shoot-'em-ups rely on computer power, and as games consoles become more capable their output becomes ever more cinematic. Indeed, modern games based on “Star Wars” look even better than the original films, since today's games consoles far outperform any special-effects technology available back in the 1980s. Costs have increased as the production values of games have improved: the typical budget is now $5m-8m." The Economist 03/25/04

Monty Python: Looking On The Brighter Side Of Life Monty Python's "Life of Brian" is going to be released in theatres in the US again, following the success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." "Adverts will challenge Mel Gibson's blockbuster with the lines 'Mel or Monty?', 'The Passion or the Python?' Distributor Rainbow said it hoped the film would 'serve as an antidote to all the hysteria about Mel's movie'. It was condemned as blasphemous before its original release, although Monty Python said it was intended as a spoof on Bible films and intolerance rather than Christianity." BBC 03/25/04

Cohen: Can Anyone Tell Me Why Edwards Had To Go? National Public Radio's decision to bump Morning Edition host Bob Edwards from the chair he has occupied for the show's entire 25-year run is meeting with astonishment and anger from NPR listeners. Richard Cohen, for one, is incredulous that NPR would lower itself to the ratings-obsessed, buzzword-intensive level of TV news. "The telling sign was not just that he was axed as the program's host but that no one can tell you why. At NPR, clearly the most erudite of the networks, various officials descended into the juvenile babble of TV executives, empty words spilling out of their mouths, as if they were determined to fill airtime yet say nothing." Washington Post 03/25/04

• Previously: NPR Replaces Edwards On Morning Edition After 25 years hosting National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Bob Edwards is being edged out of the job. "Mr. Edwards said he found out early this month that he was being reassigned. 'I was called into an office, and they said, `We're making a change,' You get a line like that, and I guess you should come back with some snappy rejoinder. But of course I did not. I was very surprised." The New York Times 03/24/04

When In Doubt, Blame The Bureaucrats "The Toronto film and television industry yesterday assailed the Toronto Transit Commission for making it so difficult to get approval to film in the city's subway system that the city loses business to more film-friendly competitors... The basic complaint from the industry is that the TTC takes much longer than other transit agencies to approve and organize filming in the subway, most of which takes place at an unused TTC station below the Bay-Bloor station." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/25/04

Industry See, Industry Do The British Phonographic Industry apparently likes what it has seen of the techniques employed by its American counterpart in combating online music piracy. File-swapping is down in the U.S. since the industry began publicly suing individual offenders, and now, the BPI is warning UK swappers that a similar fate could befall them if they don't curb their habit of acquiring copyrighted music without paying. BBC 03/25/04

Average Hollywood Movie Now Costs $100 Million "The average cost to produce and promote a film in 2003 rose above $100 million for the first time ever with the average cost up 8.6 percent to $63.8 million and advertising and other expenses up a whopping 28 percent to about $39 million, according to the Motion Picture Association of America." Backstage 03/24/04

Martin Boosts Canadian TV Budget The Canadian government has pledged to increase its contribution to the Canadian Television Fund by $38 million a year, news which is being hailed by independent documentarians and producers nationwide. Cuts to the fund in recent years contributed to a dismal year for the industry in 2003, and new Prime Minister Paul Martin made a point of calling for the restoration of previous funding levels. But some other Canadian arts groups are none too pleased with the PM's priorities, as major arts organizations will see little in the way of similar funding increases. Toronto Star 03/24/04

Is Public TV Sucking Up To The Pentagon? "Perennially cash-strapped public television producers and filmmakers would ordinarily be thrilled that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting recently unveiled a long-awaited initiative to fund $20 million worth of documentaries on post-Sept. 11 terrorist attack themes. Instead, a recent forum in New York where the organization's executives explained more precisely what kinds of programs they are seeking for 'America at a Crossroads' turned into a shouting and name-calling session." At issue is the perception of filmmakers that the CPB is soliciting propaganda films promoting the Bush administration's view of the world. Los Angeles Times 03/24/04

Film Critic Takes Over Sydney Film Festival Lynden Barber, film critic for The Australian newspaper, has been one of the Sydney Film Festival's harshest critics. So maybe it's a surprise that he's just been named as the festival's next director. "It is a poacher-turns-gamekeeper appointment considering Barber, 48, wrote that film industry insiders were calling for a rocket under the festival after "another mediocre performance" last year. He quoted critics as saying the festival was aloof and slow to address deep structural problems." Sydney Morning Herald 03/24/04

Jack Valenti Stepping Down From MPAA After 38 years, Jack Valenti is stepping down as head of the Motion Picture Association of America. "In his decades on the job Mr. Valenti, a spry, white-haired Texan who was a special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, has become a familiar figure on the Hollywood scene. He is also known for creating the current movie ratings system." The New York Times 03/24/04

NPR Replaces Edwards On Morning Edition After 25 years hosting National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Bob Edwards is being edged out of the job. "Mr. Edwards said he found out early this month that he was being reassigned. 'I was called into an office, and they said, `We're making a change,' You get a line like that, and I guess you should come back with some snappy rejoinder. But of course I did not. I was very surprised." The New York Times 03/24/04

SARS, Dollar, Economy = Ontario Movie Production Decline Ontario's movie and TV production fell 11 percent in 2003. "Spending on film and television productions fell to $874.1-million last year from $984.5-billion in 2002. The peak occurred in 2000, when spending hit $1-billion. Last year, the amount of foreign production fell to $369.9-million from $574.4-million in 2002." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/23/04

Hollywood's Record Year (Despite The Pirates) Hollywood movie studios took in almost $11 billion in 2003 - a record. "The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) put the 5% rise since 2002 down to rising ticket prices. Although ticket earnings have risen, the total tickets sold has dropped 5% internationally and 12% in Europe." BBC 03/23/04

TV: Taking A Chance On Youth Television is breaking its long established talent pipelines. "Network television was a strict dues-paying culture. Writers sweated it out for years on other people's shows — earning arcane titles like 'executive story editor' and 'supervising producer' — before getting a shot at creating their own. But lately those rules are being rewritten. Networks are now clamoring for fresh voices that they otherwise would not have looked toward." The New York Times 03/21/04

What About The V-Chip? Indecency on the TV? What about the V-chip? "Eight years after Congress adopted the Telecommunications Act of 1996, about 80 million of America's 275 million television sets have one. But it's not easy to find anyone, outside of trivia contestants, who knows what a V-chip is. Rarer still are those who can actually make one work." Los Angeles Times 03/22/04

Dark Times For Animators "For decades, Southern California was the ultimate destination for self-described 'animation geeks' — kids who worked from homemade flip books and cel collecting to get there. But shifts in the industry — a growing appetite for computer-generated graphics and the chronic issue of outsourcing — have eliminated 1,000 jobs in the last three years. It's a frustrating time for animators. Los Angeles Times 03/21/04

The Latest Casualties In The Obscenity Wars A pair of Atlanta radio DJs were suspended Friday shortly after they broadcast sexually explicit talk with a porn star. The two had planned to record the explicit conversation and play it backwards over the air. Atlanta Journal-Constitution 03/20/04

Iraq As A Soap Opera Iraq TV is getting its first post-American invasion soap opera. "During Saddam's reign, show business was under tight state control and all actors were employed by a government ministry. Television and feature films were heavily censored. Since the fall of Saddam last year, independent film-makers have enjoyed unprecedented freedom. Ironically, as the plots of Love and War indicate, much of this new-found artistic energy is being used to criticise, subtly or not, the American and British forces who brought the freedom." China Daily (Reuters) 03/21/04

Toronto Film Industry Bounces Back Last year was an awful year for the Toronto film industry. "This year, the industry, weary but determined, slept with one eye open as it watched the Canadian dollar buoy to its highest level in decades. The players had to wonder, would American producers choose to make their big-money movies at home? Was this the end for Hollywood North? Hardly." Toronto Star 03/21/04

Why Advertisers Like Youth Why do advertisers value younger consumers over older, even though older buyers have more money? "It's complicated. First, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you have pretty much decided which brand of dishwashing detergent you like and you're going to stick with it. Younger viewers, on the other hand, are still trying to figure out whether they prefer Excedrin to Bufferin and whether they look better with hair dyed by L'Oreal or Clairol. Second, advertisers believe that by the time you reach a certain age, you are much less likely to buy a product just because Michael Jordan is wearing it." Washington Post 03/21/04

UK Announces New Movie Investment Tax Credit A new tax credit program for British filmmakers will help spur the industry. A government program that had given tax breaks for those who invest in UK movies is coming to an end, and the movie industry had complained that its discontinuation would kill British film investment. BBC 03/21/04

The A-List Actor And The Video Game Movie stars are turning up in new video games. "A-list actors have taken notice of games, and it's not hard to see why. They're a quick route to digital-age street cred. Appearing in a game gives an actor a sense of being on the cutting edge of technological "convergence" (whatever that is), as well as a vague whiff of indie flava. More important, it keeps a star current among young men. Any canny star—or, more likely, any star with a canny agent—eventually winds up looking enviously at a hot video game like the Grand Theft Auto series, which is objectively cooler than almost anything that's come out of Hollywood in years." Slate 03/18/04

More Troubles For Kazaa Kazaa Media Desktop is the leading piece of file-trading software of the moment, and as such, it is at the center of the firestorm over illegal copying and swapping of copyrighted songs and movies. But Kazaa's legal troubles apparently don't end with the long list of industry heavies and political bigwigs who want to shut it down: now, a Romanian man is claiming that he wrote the source code for Kazaa, and is suing the company for his share of the profits. Wired 03/18/04

Fears Abound As Passion Comes To Germany German officials are warning that Mel Gibson's controversial epic, The Passion of the Christ, could stir up anti-Semitism in the country when it opens on 400 screens today. In contrast to America, where Catholic bishops embraced the film and declared it to be a vivid but accurate representation of Jesus's last days, "German Catholic leaders called the film problematic, and the German Bishops' Conference said: 'We urgently warn against using the suffering of Jesus as an instrument for anti-Semitism.'" BBC 03/18/04

• The $500 Million Pariah Charges of anti-Semitism aside, Mel Gibson is cashing in on his personal faith to a degree that would make a televangelist blush. In fact, when all is said and done, Gibson could make a cool half a billion on his violent little tribute to ultra-orthodox Catholicism. And in Hollywood, where money talks louder than morality, that kind of moneymaking ability is likely to keep Gibson a major player for quite a while, regardless of how many people he offends. Washington Post 03/18/04

I, Disney - Welfare Queen "Scrooge McDuck would be proud. Few have panhandled for taxpayer dollars as successfully as Disney during Eisner's reign. It has received at least $4.5 billion in subsidies, low-interest loans, land grants and "joint venture" investments from governments in Florida, Pennsylvania and Hong Kong. It even managed to get a handout from the French government—not exactly a fan of things American—which sold 4,800 acres just outside of Paris to Disney at a 90 percent discount so the company could build Euro Disneyland. Disney has gotten even sweeter deals closer to its home base in Southern California." Reason 03/10/04

Satellite Radio's Catch-22 The satellite radio industry is in a pickle. "In order to get permission to exist, XM and Sirius had to swear off local content. But in order to survive, they need to find a legal way to deliver it to subscribers." Slate 03/17/04

Fighting The FCC "Recording artists joined radio hosts yesterday in blasting proposed broadcast indecency legislation that could subject 'nonlicensees' - including hosts, artists, guests and callers - to huge fines for inappropriate utterances. Current House and Senate bills would let the FCC fine individuals up to $500,000 per violation. FCC rules now place most of the burden for violations on stations and owners, with a ceiling of $11,000 for individuals. In the past, the FCC has almost never fined individuals." New York Daily News 03/17/04

Canadians Like Their Public TV The premier of Ontario has proposed privatizing TVOntario, the province's public broadcaster, as well as a few other government-run companies. But so far, the public isn't on board with the plan... The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/17/04

Not Bad For A Guy Who Just Lost His Job Former BBC chief Greg Dyke, forced out of his position at the head of the UK's public broadcaster following the furor over reporter Andrew Gilligan's story accusing the Blair government of "sexing up" a dossier concerning Iraqi weapons capabilities, has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Royal Television Society. BBC staffers rallied to Dyke's side when he resigned in January, and much was made of how popular a leader he was. BBC 03/17/04

• Previously: Down But Not Out Greg Dyke was "a fantastically popular director general," and that may have been part of his undoing at the BBC. But despite the humiliation of being accused of shoddy journalism by Lord Hutton, the BBC is circling the wagons, and firing back at Prime Minister Tony Blair and his supporters. One former BBC staffer has publically accused the government of "trying to grind an independent broadcaster into the ground. The staff are determined that it won't happen." The Guardian (UK) 01/29/04

Movie Directors Vy For The TV Screen "In a remarkable crossing of media, 23 feature directors, including Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Singer, are preparing pilots for shows vying for placement on all six broadcast networks. At most, only a few will be picked up. But the effort shows an important swing in the entertainment pendulum: the acceptance of television as a creative and thriving medium that no longer stands as the stepchild to the big screen." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04

Tsing Loh Offered Job Back, Refuses A week after firing commentator Sandra Tsing Loh for uttering an obscenity in a commentary, the Santa Monica public radio station KCRW offered her her job back. "Late last week, station General Manager Ruth Seymour apologized to Loh and reversed her decision to terminate the commentator for using a four-letter obscenity on KCRW-FM (89.9). But Loh turned down the station's offer Monday, citing what she called a "toxic" environment there." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04

• Previously: Tsing Loh Fired From KCRW The new American crackdown on broadcast "obscenity" has claimed its first public radio personality. Commentator Sandra Tsing Loh, who is known nationally for her contributions to Public Radio International's Marketplace and This American Life, has been fired from her regular position at Los Angeles-area station KCRW after using an expletive in one of her Sunday monologues. Loh claims that the word was supposed to be bleeped out in editing, but the station claims it was a deliberate attempt to flout broadcast standards, and, in a telling statement, called the firing "a precautionary measure to show the station has distanced itself from Loh in case the FCC investigates the matter." Los Angeles Times 03/04/04

• Are Public Broadcasters Wimping Out? Why do public broadcasters seem even more afraid of an FCC crackdown than commercial broadcasters? "That no broadcaster has ever lost its license for obscenity or indecency, however, seems entirely lost on public broadcasters. Although they preen over their intellectually superior, cutting-edge programming, they have devolved into some of the most timid and conformist contributors to the programming mix. In this environment, the government need never take any real action to accomplish a chilling effect on an already jittery broadcast community. The head of the FCC or an influential congressional committee chairman need only clear his throat, and industry 'leaders' are set scrambling to shoot their wounded." Los Angeles Times 03/16/04

Digital Flames Do In Bollywood f/X Teams Bollywood's effects teams are a busy lot. "They blow up buildings and cars, create rain, storms, smog, smoke, fire, confetti and rig up explosions and organise stunts. But today the 500 or so movie effects artists are a despondent lot. With Bollywood cinema becoming slicker, special effects shops have sprung up all over Bombay, taking away a lot of their business. BBC 03/16/04

TV's High Definition (Worry) Lines "Although high-definition television promises to bring sporting events into the nation's living rooms in unequaled clarity, it's also delivering something else to the television business: worry lines. With HDTV -- which provides images five times sharper than those on a regular TV set -- makeup cannot be caked on to hide acne scars because the heavy layers are plainly evident. Too much powder looks obvious." Chicago Tribune (OS) 03/15/04

The Passion Of The Box Office (And More To Come?) The Passion of the Christ has taken in more than $265 million - an obvious success at the box office. So Hollywood, predictably, is wondering the big money question: has the movie industry been "neglecting large segments of the American audience eager for more openly religious fare?" The New York Times 03/15/04

Based On A (Not Really) True Story "How much fictionalization should be tolerated before the designation 'based on a true story' becomes both a liability and a lie? The harm or benefit to society is debatable, but in examining these specimens of reality-based myth, a barometer of America emerges: Namely, they reveal the political climate in which we live and the sort of comforting untruths we crave at the movie theater." Philadelphia Inquirer 03/14/04

FCC To Stations: Go To Your Room! The media "indecency" debate in the US is a classic parent/child conflict. "For our purposes, the role of the parents in this indecency script is played by the Federal Communications Commission. The kids are radio and TV stations. And for the past 15-20 years, the FCC has largely trusted them to keep the house of broadcasting orderly. The outcome, critics say, is a disaster, with food on the ceiling, busted china and God knows what going on in the basement." New York Daily News 03/14/04

Should Indie Filmmakers Worry About Piracy? Major movie studios are worried about piracy. But how about smaller, indie films? Since indie films don't open with "event" releases, there's no rush for pirates to copy movies and sell them. Still, a popular indie movie can find itself being undercut at the box office by bootleg copies. Indiewire 03/11/04

The Man Who Made A Movie Without Leaving His Room Kerry Conran has spent 10 years working on making a movie on his computer. "Conran has not constructed a single set or miniature. Rather, they are computer images, built and animated in a virtual 3-D environment, or stitched together from photographs, which are then draped around the flesh-and-blood actors, who have been shot separately on an empty set in front of a blank ''blue-screen'' background, along with those few minimal props with which they actually interact (a ray gun, a robot blueprint, a bottle of milk of magnesia). The film, in other words, is one long special effect with Jude-Law-size holes in it." New York Times Magazine 03/14/04

Groups Sue Over DVD Copy-Protection Law Last year America's FCC decided that DVD players would have to incorporate copy-limiting technology. Now a coalition of consumer advocacy groups is suing over the new law. "What is at stake is what kind of rights we have when most media is digital. We want to make sure that rights aren't taken away because the material is in a different format. We want this technology to be the best it can be, not the second- or third-best." Wired 03/11/04

Retirement = Big Changes At CBC The retirement of a longtime senior exec at Canada's CBC signals major rethinking of the public broadcaster's programming. "The news of Harold Redekopp's departure, expected later this year, has given rise to a groundswell of talk that a major shakeup is in the works at the public broadcaster - one that will affect a number of key executive positions as well as many facets of its programming, from arts and entertainment to news and current affairs." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/11/04

US Congress Moves Toward Media Crackdown "A Senate panel has paved the way for a broad crackdown on offensive radio and television programming, including extending stiff fines to artists, limiting violence and temporarily preventing broadcasters from owning more stations until potential links between media consolidation and indecency on the airwaves can be studied." Washington Post 03/09/04

Are You There, Walt? It's Me, Judy. In a clear effort to show that it is serious about recapturing the imagination of the youth market, Disney has bought the rights to several of author Judy Blume's novels for young adults, and plans to turn out a series of films based on them. The move comes less than two weeks after Disney announced that it had bought the rights to C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. BBC 03/10/04

Acting Out - Movieoke And now... we give you the Next Big Thing - movieoke: "The concept almost explains itself: instead of making a fool of yourself singing in front of strangers, you do it by acting in front of a movie screen with the sound turned low." The New York Times 03/10/04

PBS Demands Payment From Seattle Station PBS has told Seattle affiliate KCTS it wants immediate payment of $3.8 million in back dues, part of $5.2 million the station owes for 2000, 2001 and 2003. "KCTS has until sometime next month to come up with a plan for repayment. Should Channel 9 be unable to do so, PBS could begin sanctions to force KCTS to become a "pass through" station, taking a direct feed through satellite and forgoing local content. Worse, KCTS could lose its affiliation." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 03/09/04

Nielsen To Track Tivo Viwers In another sign that the viewing habbits of TV watchers is changing, the ratings company Nielsen says it will begin tracking viewers that record TV shows on digital recorders such as Tivo for later viewing. "The company will keep track of shows that are recorded and watched within seven days but will not collect information on 'trick modes' like fast-forwarding, rewinding or pausing." Wired 03/08/04

The UK's DVD Addiction Brits spend more per capita on DVDs than any other country in Europe. "Almost three billion euros (£2bn) were spent in the UK on DVDs during 2003. There are currently more than 50 million DVD players in western Europe - equivalent to one in every three homes." BBC 03/08/04

Should The BBC Lose Its Funding? A strong majority of Britons would like to see a wholesale change in the way the BBC is funded, according to a new survey. The current system charges a license fee to anyone in the UK owning and using a television, and the funds from that tax go to support the government-backed broadcaster. But with the advent of cable and satellite networks, many of which target the same audience as the venerable BBC, the license fee has become increasingly controversial, and it no longer seems certain to continue in perpetuity. BBC 03/06/04

Smart Is Boring. Let's Kill It! The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is considering killing off Radio National, the ABC's news and culture network, and ABC Radio director Sue Howard has been quoted as calling the intellectually-focused network "boring as batshit." The proposed elimination of one of the company's six radio networks comes as the ABC is being forced to cut budget, but there is likely to be stiff opposition to Howard's desire to kill off what many view as an icon of Australian broadcasting excellence. Sydney Morning Herald 03/07/04

Standards & Practices: The New Broadcast Puritanism "After years of pushing limits and pocketing profits, broadcasters find themselves in a gathering storm over indecency. And it is not likely to blow over soon. Too much is at stake. The FCC, having been blasted as inattentive, is seeking congressional support for a tenfold increase in fines for objectionable content. Last week, a U.S. House committee said the proposed increase - from $27,500 to $275,000 - wasn't steep enough, voting to raise penalties to $500,000. Commission member Michael Copps is saying it is high time the FCC, which has never pulled a station's license for indecency, got the attention of broadcasters by holding revocation hearings." Philadelphia Inquirer 03/07/04

Little Island, Big Hollywood Dreams When the British government announced that it was closing a tax loophole long used to finance big-budget movies being shot in the UK, industry observers warned that it would spell the death of the nation's film industry. And indeed, movie production has ground to a virtual halt since the loophole closed. But on the tiny Isle of Man (seen by countless American moviegoers when it stood in for Ireland in Waking Ned Devine), two films are ready to roll, thanks to new subsidies from the island's own film commission. It may not be the saving grace of the entire UK industry, says David Gritten, but it's a start. The Telegraph (UK) 03/05/04

Godzilla To Take A 10-Year Break Many Americans are probably unaware of it, but Japanese movie studios have never actually stopped making Godzilla movies. In fact, the monster that stomped Tokyo has been the star of 28 full-length features over the last 50 years, including this year's Godzilla: Final Wars, slated for a December release. But according to Japan's Toho Studios, this really will be Godzilla's final war, at least for quite a while. The studio plans to make no new Godzilla movies for at least ten years, regardless of how well the latest installment does at the box office. Hartford Courant (AP) 03/05/04

Muller Named To Run Venice Film Fest Marco Muller, former director of the Locarno Film Festival, has been named director of the Venice Film Festival and will "run the Venice event for four years. The festival has undergone a turbulent few years, with changes of top staff amid charges of political interference." BBC 03/07/04

Old Master Paintings And A Cinematic Christ Alan Artner looks at "The Passion of the Christ" with an art critic's perspective. "Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is turning out to be many things to many people, but to me it's primarily a film in a genre that has been deeply indebted to other forms of visual art: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking." Chicago Tribune 03/07/04

Demographic Gold (Really?) What is it about males 18-34? "They are the most sought-after demographic - early adopters of technology, tastemakers and trend shapers who influence much of what we see on television, the Internet, billboards and in the movies. They are the muses for The Howard Stern Show and Jackass: The Movie." Chicago Tribune 03/07/04

Is The TV Sitcom Dying? It would certainly seems so, given what's currently on the air. And there seems to be little creativity coming along to take the place of the shows going off the air. A panel of TV folk gets together to talk about the state of the art: "Though everyone agreed that the traditional sitcom was coming to the end of its dominant era, they said that what is ahead is visible only in fragments. Forces like talk radio and the Internet have made the tried-and-true development process too slow in responding to the cultural climate; the adult-content comedies available on cable have made conflicting demands on the networks, both to sauce up their offerings and to offer clean-cut alternatives. And financial pressures are always an issue..." The New York Times 03/06/04

Tsing Loh Fired From KCRW The new American crackdown on broadcast "obscenity" has claimed its first public radio personality. Commentator Sandra Tsing Loh, who is known nationally for her contributions to Public Radio International's Marketplace and This American Life, has been fired from her regular position at Los Angeles-area station KCRW after using an expletive in one of her Sunday monologues. Loh claims that the word was supposed to be bleeped out in editing, but the station claims it was a deliberate attempt to flout broadcast standards, and, in a telling statement, called the firing "a precautionary measure to show the station has distanced itself from Loh in case the FCC investigates the matter." Los Angeles Times 03/04/04

Boring? Well, We Asked For It. The Oscars hadn't even ended on Sunday night when the cries of "BO-ring!" began to be heard ringing from every armchair in North America. And yes, Hollywood has been a pretty yawn-inducing place of late, says Tina Brown. But what do we expect of the film industry when our culture has become so paranoid, so easily offended, and so willing to pounce on anyone deemed controversial, or worse, un-American? Add in the self-appointed fashionistas who make every star's life hell at every new awards show, and it's no wonder that Hollywood seems ready to retreat into ultra-safe territory. Washington Post 03/04/04

Reading Gibson's Passion "Obscured by the furor surrounding Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is one relatively mundane bit of trivia: Last week's debut marked the widest release ever of a subtitled film in North America. The subtitles were actually Plan B. Gibson originally intended to show the movie without them, letting the sound of the Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin -- not to mention the spattering blood -- speak for itself." In addition, the scholar who was in charge of creating the dialogue confesses that he threw in a few intentional inaccuracies, some for artistic reasons, and some just for a laugh.

What Is Piracy, Anyway? Lost amid all the bluster over intellectual property and illegal file-swapping is the undeniable fact that a large part of America's cultural history wouldn't exist without some form of piracy. The film and recording industries got their start through the work of individuals skirting the edges of copyright and patent law, and radio still operates under a bizarre set of rules in which authors and composers are paid for the right to broadcast their work, but performers aren't. Is online file-swapping really any worse than any of these practices? Wired 03/04/04

A Right To Privacy, So Long As You're A Kid "Two lawmakers introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate Wednesday to prohibit corporations from selling the personal information of children under the age of 16 without their parents' consent. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced the Children's Listbroker Privacy Act to limit the sale of personally identifiable information for purposes of marketing to children, as part of a larger package of legislation intended to help parents combat commercial attacks on their children." Wired 03/04/04

Old? What Old? On TV? Where? Why are there so few older characters on Australian TV? And those older characters there are don't seem realistic. There's a "failure of local dramas to depict the 60-plus generation as people with sex lives, aspirations, careers and sporting ability. 'Everyone knows we're not all young and gorgeous so why doesn't television show it'?" The Age (Melbourne) 03/04/04

Christ's Passion Tops Hobbit Love "Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has broken the US five-day box office record held by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Gibson's controversial religious movie made $125.2m in its first five days, updated figures have confirmed. That pushed it past the Oscar-winning Rings film's earlier record of $124.1m." BBC 03/03/04

CBC For Sale? Is the Canadian government thinking about selling off the CBC to the private sector? "It's a billion dollars we have put towards CBC television and we witness direct competition between a public broadcaster and the private sector." Toronto Star 03/02/04

Suing The Fake Movie Critic "A California appeals court has ruled a proposed class action filed by filmgoers against Sony Pictures Entertainment can go to trial over the studio's admission it had created a fake critic to plug its movies. A dissenting Justice Reuben Ortega called the lawsuit "a farce" and "the most frivolous case with which I have ever had to deal." Toronto Star 03/02/04

More Radio Stations Vow No Obscenity More radio stations draft "zero tolerance" policies regarding "obscenity" on the air. "Emmis doubtless thinks this is a good idea. But that's not why the company is making the declaration. Emmis is doing it because, like Infinity, Clear Channel and others, it has no choice. It's the ID you have to flash at the door today if you don't want potential problems with security." New York Daily News 03/02/04

The Starsky And Hutch Of Homeland Security? A new series being shopped around for American TV is about Homeland Security agents. "It's about two D.H.S. agents who hurry to trouble spots and fight no-goodniks with the help of local police. According to the production company, President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge both endorse and contribute sound bites to the introductions of the series. The producers also claim to have 'clearance' from the FBI, the California State Counter-Terrorism Unit and the Los Angeles Police Department. Now, you and I might scoff, but this is a serious business." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/02/04

French Won't Distribute Gibson's "Passion" "French cinema chains are refusing to distribute or screen Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" because of fears it will spark a new outbreak of anti-Semitism." Chicago Sun-Times 03/01/04

Report: Tightening Copyright Laws Bad For Business Entertainment companies are fighting hard to get tough laws passed that prohibit copying of music and video. But a new government report says that tightening copyright laws is "bad for business and for the economy. The New York Times 03/01/04

Why New Zealand's Film Industry Is On The Rise New Zealand is a country of only 4 million people. And yet, systematically, New Zealand has built a film industry that culminated in its Lord of the Rings success. "This commitment paid off in increased tourism and business creation. It also brought into existence a substantial filmmaking infrastructure: Mr. Jackson has built his own film processing lab and postproduction facility and is about to build a sound stage to service his next production, a remake of "King Kong," currently scheduled to shoot in Wellington in August." Opinionjournal.com 03/02/04

Lord of the Rings Cleans Up Lord of the Rings scores 11 Oscar wins - tying Ben Hur and Titanic for most wins ever. Other than that, it was a tame, uneventful Academy Awards broadcast. The New York Times 03/01/04