Water Cooler

By Dom Serafini

What’s the story? Are Americans more afraid of propaganda or of straight news? If propaganda is the problem, then why is Fox News so popular? On the other hand, if straight news is the problem, it explains the popularity of reporting on Paris Hilton, and the virtual ban in the U.S. of al-Jazeera, the all-news English-language TV channel.

Washington D.C.-based Accuracy in Media (AIM), a kind of Fox News “fair and balanced” -type of organization for which even the Wall Street Journal is too “radical,” has campaigned hard against al-Jazeera International –– as the English service is officially called –– to the point of having sponsored the website, www.stopaljazeera.org. AIM is even upset with GloboCast, the France Telecom subsidiary that is providing the satellite’s U.S. footprint.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defined the al-Jazeera TV news service as “a mouthpiece of al-Qaeda,” as if he himself were the most trusted source of news. Many elected U.S. officials refuse to be interviewed by al-Jazeera International.

But, in my view, the problem is not the American public preferring propaganda to straight news; it is only the “feed ‘em cake” type of corporate media attitude. Just think: Authoritative U.S. media groups would go to bat in order to preserve their rights to cuss on the air –– in order to attract that Paris Hilton crowd –– but are afraid that educated and informed reporting from a well respected news service could make political opportunists like AIM jump on trees and start acting like nuts to attract squirrels.

That al-Jazeera International is well respected and newsworthy is indicated by the fact that, despite being only 11-months-old, it has already won one gold and two silver trophies from PROMAX, the Los Angeles-based marketing association.

Those political fundamentalists who call the service “anti-American” refuse to see that it is very professional and staffed with experienced and respected newspeople from many U.S. and U.K. news organizations. But we also know that the moniker “anti-American” is a code word to keep out of the U.S. any news, which could reveal the shenanigans of the Iraq War and the Bush administration’s disservice to Americans and to the world.

Indeed, among the respectable names working for al-Jazeera International, is David Frost, a TV host popular in the U.K. and in the U.S., especially for his 1977 exclusive interviews with disgraced U.S. president Richard Nixon. Today, from London, Sir David produces a weekly program for the al-Jazeera English channel.

In the U.S., among al-Jazeera International’s correspondents is Josh Rushing, a former captain in the U.S. Marines and spokesperson at the U.S. military’s central command in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Not for nothing, al-Jazeera International is very popular with the Pentagon.

When I asked AIM: “If you consider al-Jazeera reporting anti-American, what about other international TV services that are widely distributed in the U.S. such as: RAI International (Italy), BBC World (U.K.), DW (Germany), TVE (Spain), TV5 (France), etc.?

Some of them, such as RAI International, even show naked women. Cliff Kincaid, AIM’s key architect of Stop al-Jazeera, answered: “We are concerned about al-Jazeera because we are engaged in a war with radical Islam, and the channel has been an outlet for enemy propaganda. We have, however, published some AIM Reports on the BBC’s bias as well.”

The Qatar-based Arabic channel’s English-language offspring of al-Jazeera received a hostile reception in the U.S. from the start, when it began the new service last November.

I’m not exaggerating. Just scan the headlines: “Al-Jazeera braves hostility to give news diversity to U.S.,” wrote the Financial Times. “Al-Jazeera struggles to be seen,” titled the Los Angeles Times.

Only two cable systems –– Buckeye Cablesystem of northern Ohio, and BT in Burlington, Vermont –– are carrying the news service so far. Major MSOs, such as Time Warner, have avoided it. Allan Block, the owner of Buckeye Cablesystem reported to have received “threats mostly from those kind folks in the Bible Belt,” which fortunately is outside the Ohio area.

For al-Jazeera’s part, however, we notice a debilitating bureaucracy, which could have been the cause of such poor carriage in the U.S. For example, asked to respond to a few basic questions, one of their three PR offices (in the U.S., U.K. and Qatar) requested four weeks to give us the answers.

Shunned by almost every cable service in the U.S., the English-language al-Jazeera has turned to the Web to reach American viewers — with much more success. Indeed, Google has come to the channel’s rescue by offering the service on its YouTube, where one could follow its excellent investigations. Since April, when it struck this distribution deal with YouTube, the channel has received two million hits. Talk about “new” media giving the “old” media a run for its money!

Posted by watercooler at 08:50 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By Dom Serafini

The day started promisingly, i.e. without complaints. The schedule was relatively light: The routine morning editorial meeting, one seminar worth attending, a visit with a potential news source, lunch on the beach with a friend, writing a short article for one of our dailies. And basically that was it, with the end of the day being topped off by one of the usual cocktail receptions.

That was the plan anyway. But as soon as I started walking down the Croisette heading to the editorial meeting, one of VideoAge’s distribution coordinators calmly reported that copies of that day’s Mipcom Jr. daily were nowhere to be found at her designated hotel. Even though it was one of the smaller inns, it was, nevertheless, important for us, considering that we pride ourselves on blanket distribution.

Together we headed to the hotel. Just before arriving at the place, however, the printer called my cell phone about a page to be readied for the next day’s daily, which needed immediate attention. Too early to call the staff in the New York office and too late to call back some of the operational staff in Cannes –– who were by then going about their duties –– I decided to head back to the hotel in order to get the info requested by the printer.

On my way there I met the person with whom I had the appointment, but I wasn’t able to reschedule it due to his fully booked agenda. Just after entering the hotel, while we were trying to find a place to sit, a top-level executive who I had been trying to meet for many months came toward me offering an opportunity that surely couldn’t be missed. Juggling two hot potatoes at once, I cut the first meeting short, but unfortunately not early enough to spend some quality time with the second.

After that awkward experience, I reached my hotel room and started looking for the printers’ information; I felt that the room was extremely hot. Earlier, after checking in at the Martinez, since I knew that the central air conditioning system was shut down due to the end of the summer season, I had asked for one of the few keys to open the sliding window. Because the window overlooked a roof, representing a safety risk, the hotel maid had closed it and taken the key with her.

Now, this was a situation that needed to be solved immediately to avoid the risk of not being able to sleep at night due to the heat. The maid had given the window key to the service man and now she was trying to locate him. While waiting for the key to be returned, it occurred to me that I was already late for the lunch meeting. When I reached the restaurant on the beach, the outside area had to be unexpectedly closed and they could not accommodate us inside due to construction.

Patiently, my guest and I wandered around trying to find a place to sit. We ended up on some uncomfortable bar stools at a sandwich shop on Rue d’Antibes. Naturally, not much could be discussed, and we soon departed with the promise to give it a try on another day.

Meanwhile, the seminar deemed worth attending had ended, so rather than spend time listening to one of the many self-promotional sessions, I decided to register for the main market, so I made a dash for the press registration tent, which unfortunately, wasn’t yet open.

Determined to stick to my original schedule — or what was left of it — I schlepped to VideoAge’s editorial offices to write a story from the notes of my earlier, truncated interview. Nothing doing! The room had just been restructured and equipped with electrical sockets, which did not match my U.S. electrical adaptors (there are two types of electrical sockets in France) and my laptop was completely out of battery power. Because all other computers were being used, I headed to the computer rental store at the corner of Rue d’Antibes and Rue Françoise Libre, only to find that it was closed for the day.

A bit discouraged and in need of a drink or, better yet, champagne, I started to direct myself to the location of the reception I was expected to attend. When I arrived, the security guards at the entrance asked for the invitation, which I did not have since it was sent via e-mail in the form of a notice which said that the actual invitation would be found in my press pigeon hole, which was not yet ready to access.

Without a badge and with no company representative or PR agent at the door to recognize me, the only thing to do was to leave and go back to the hotel.

Tired and depressed I arrived at the hotel, where my wife reached me on the phone, curious to find out about my day: “So what have you accomplished today? Did you have a good day?” she asked. Since, in my view, men should always have the last word, I answered, with a man’s typical last word: “Yes, dear!”

But, thinking about the answer, it occurred to me that the day had been extremely hectic and had gone by very fast. Even though nothing had been accomplished, I was, nonetheless, thoroughly exhausted. So in all honesty I answered, “I had a very busy day, but don’t ask me what I did.”

Posted by watercooler at 09:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By Dom Serafini

Among the billionaires who’ve announced plans to give away some of their fortunes to charity, is Los Angeles-based Eli Broad (who was unsuccessful in his bid to buy the Tribune Co.). Broad has already donated $1 billion, and he’s now planning to give away even more, following in the footsteps of Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore’s $7 billion give-away, Bill Gates’ $30 billion philanthropic pledge and a $40 billion charity endowment from U.S. investor Warren Buffett.

Naturally, pet causes are the same: public education, arts, poverty, environment, research, health, etc. In my view all of this represents a great waste of money, resources and social responsibility.

According to some reports, Americans donate about $240 billion to charity every year, but have nothing to show for it. Except in some special cases that are the exception and not the rule, those billions fail to generate even a blip in the societal improvement chart. Just think of Ted Turner’s donation to the bureaucratic “black hole” of the United Nations.

But this peculiar form of altruism is not just limited to Americans, as the U.K.’s Richard Branson demonstrated with his $3 billion donation to global warming awareness programs.

The U.S., like many other countries, has the fortune, riches, wealth and capacity to take care of its problems by itself if the political system would allow it.

Right now, lobbies that represent special interests and influence politicians control the U.S. social fabric. So, education problems go unsolved to aid the military-industrial complex; the environment and climatic changes are in direct opposition to the oil industry’s interests; safety, law and order go against the lobby for the firearms sector; general health is in opposition to HMOs; and good media regulations counter corporate plans.

We all know that corporate interests cannot be stopped unless they are counterbalanced with equally powerful consumer and social groups, which don’t yet exist and never will (imagine environmentalists battling the $650 billion-a-year oil industry!).

Special interests also control regulatory agencies. According to stock market tracker Eric Janszen, for example, “The hyper-growth phase of an asset bubble cannot develop when rules and regulations governing a market are effectively enforced… Regulation abdication happens when the government lacks the political will to regulate it.”

So under these circumstances, what are billionaires to do for the history books? Well, why not invest excess money in changing the electoral process in order to foster all their countries’ potentials?

And how can this be done? Well, first, they should help neutralize special interest power by simply creating a system where money from lobbies would be shunned, since Constitutional rights can’t outlaw them.

After all, the problems that pet charities are trying to solve are direct consequences of the special interests’ influence over the political process.

Today, in order to run for a two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives, candidates need at least $2 million. For the six-year Senate term a candidate needs $6 million. This is money that special interest groups are readily willing to provide. Some of the aforementioned $240 billion should go to those politicians who accept donations under the condition that they:
• Do not ever accept special interest money (penalty would be to repay the donation 100 times.
• Once in power, the elected officials should foster laws restricting special interest money going to politicians and enact public campaign financing.

Those two simple rules could bring more positive changes to all sectors of society than all the world’s philanthropic money combined. Why? Because, once the special interest groups can no longer buy the political process, political efforts will be for the common good. And, in the grand scheme of things, the cost for this drastic social improvement is minimal: less than one percent of the yearly charitable contributions, or about $1.7 billion at the U.S. Federal level, which includes presidential elections.

It is interesting to note that the major philanthropists tend to be politically involved. Indeed, current Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, was elected with Broad’s support. New Univision owner Haim Saban’s large contributions to the Democratic Party are well known, as are most of Hollywood aristocracy’s such as Oprah Winfrey.

Unfortunately, all philanthropists tend to get involved with politics only to reaffirm the status quo, and instead of being part of the solution, they become part of the problems created by special interests, and donations to various causes become no more than band-aids.

Posted by watercooler at 09:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

As MIPCOM approaches, TV executives the world over are readying themselves for at least four days of meetings, cocktail parties, panel discussions, deal-making, and of course, trying to find the next big thing in television.

Some participants believe the newest trend in sports television is mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting. In that spirit, Alfred Haber Distribution, Inc. (AHDI) is coming to MIPCOM with International Fight League’s IFL Fight Night and IFL Battleground, both of which showcase MMA at its best. In addition, the company will showcase Tinseltown talker Hollywood Uncensored, as well as Most Shocking, a caught-on-camera reality series that follows law enforcement and gathers action-packed crime footage, and the all-new Most Daring, which captures dramatic rescue attempts on tape.

“We continue to present the most compelling catalogue of programming available,” said Alfred Haber, founder of AHDI. “It is indeed a global market and it is our goal to satisfy the entertainment needs of that global audience. I am confident that these titles do just that.”

The U.K.’s FremantleMedia Enterprises will also be bringing something new and exciting to the Palais. Produced by Bunim-Murray Productions for Spike TV, entertainment format Murder will give viewers the chance to help solve real homicides pulled directly from police case files.

“Every now and than a show comes along which pushes the boundaries of current formats and offers viewers something really different and individual,” said FremantleMedia CEO David Ellender. “Murder is one of these shows and we are delighted to offer such an innovative series at MIPCOM.”

In addition to solving murders, viewers will also be asked to help solve cases of fraud with Fraud Squad TV, a new series from Canada’s QC Entertainment that follows fraud victims from the moment they realize they were bilked to the moment they catch the criminal.

“This is bigger than just a TV show,” said Daniel D’or, the show’s creator, who conjured up the series after hearing the heartbreaking tale of an elderly woman who lost her life savings to a con artist.

Miami’s Televisa Estudios brings more of what it does best — telenovelas. The company’s line-up includes Love Without Makeup (Amor sin Maquillaje), a love story about three women of different generations working as makeup artists at a telenovela production company, and Down With the Beautiful (Al Diablo con los Guapos), about a soccer-mad tomboy whose life changes when she meets handsome Alejandro.

Regardless of what the next big thing might be, the execs at DECODE Entertainment, a Canada-based firm that specializes in kids and family entertainment, believe that educational series will always find their way onto TV schedules, so they’re coming to Cannes with groundbreaking animated preschool series, Super Why. The literacy-focused show, a co-venture between Blue’s Clues producer Out of the Blue Enterprises, and DECODE, is already airing on PBS in the U.S. and has been picked up by Canada’s CBC.

“This is a major deal for us,” said Neil Court, president of DECODE Enterprises. “Super Why promises to be a great success in the worldwide preschool market as already demonstrated by the commitments from PBS and the CBC.”

But whatever shows are on offer, some people still come to MIPCOM year after year to simply introduce themselves. “There’s nothing like meeting somebody in person,” said Sandra Carter of New York-based Sandra Carter Global which is coming to the market with a number of shows, including Red Carpet Reporter and the successful Shop the World series. “E-mailing and faxing just cannot compare to shaking someone’s hand.”

Posted by watercooler at 02:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)