Book Burning, the 1st Amendment, and Global Media

In case you haven’t heard, a pastor of a small church in Florida is planning to burn copies of the Qur’an on Saturday, the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The thing that makes this isolated incident the focus of our attention is that media attention is turning this into a global news story that will be seen by millions of Muslims around the world. And what they see will likely inflame passionate anger directed at the US. The Qur’an is a book, and books are a form of media. So in one sense this is a media story about media coverage of an act that involves the desecration of a media artifact.

Burning patriotic or religious symbols is nothing new. Flags and effigies of heads-of-state are commonly burned to send strong messages of disapproval to the “other side.” In America, the 1st Amendment’s protection of free speech specifically protects these kinds of political acts and we have a long history of protecting speech that is highly offensive. And while no one is debating the “right” of this pastor and his congregants to burn the Qur’an, many are critical of his decision to do something that will be seen as an extremely offensive act to millions of Muslims around the world. Much like the discussion of the mosque proposed for construction near Ground Zero, the right to proceed is not  in question, but the appropriateness of the act certainly is. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and General Petraeus have publicly condemned the proposed burning and have asked the pastor to reconsider. General Petraeus went to far as to say that the burning will endanger the lives of US soldiers in Afghanistan.

Book burning has a long and sordid history of its own…but to fully understand the gravity of this situation one needs to understand the esteem that Muslims have for  their sacred scripture. In 2005 a firestorm of controversy erupted in Muslim countries when it was reported that a copy of the Qur’an was flushed down a toilet in the process of interrogating an enemy combatant at Gitmo. While the Pentagon has been unable to find credible evidence that the desecration took place, the response was rioting that led to many deaths. If the book burning takes place this Saturday, the response may make the 2005 riots look like child’s play.

Of course, without media coverage this isolated incident would happen in a vacuum. Just like a tree falling in an empty forest, the silence would be deafening. But that is not the case in a world of 24/7 news coverage with instantaneous global reach. Secretary of State Clinton asked the media to deny coverage as an act of patriotism, but she knows that won’t happen. The Associated Press quoted Secretary Clinton as saying,

“It is regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Fla., with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world’s attention, but that’s the world we live in right now,” Clinton said. “It is unfortunate, it is not who we are.”

So what do you think? Is this a case where the 1st Amendment goes too far, protecting speech that does not deserve protection? Or is this the very essence of the kind of political protest that the Founding Fathers so passionately intended to protect?

What was the big media story this summer?

I’m curious…what did YOU think was the big media story this summer? By “big” I mean, important to you. By “media story” I mean, news event or trend about the media industry. For example you might think the big story was about a new technology, e.g. the iPhone 4 or iPad, or you might think the big story was political, e.g. the release of thousands of classified pentagon documents on Wikileaks. Or perhaps the big media news for you was about celebrities or the entertainment industry, e.g. the success of the Twilight Saga. So here’s your chance to weigh in and let us know what you think the big story was from the summer of 2010. Oh and BTW, you may not respond with one of the examples provided above.

Copying is Not Theft…Or is it?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4&feature=player_embedded]

This video is a rather “cute” argument in favor of digital copying, but the logic has some serious flaws. As YouTube commentator “spare2288” noted (with a little ad hominem thrown in for effect), “Copying is not theft. okaaaay. Also, theft is wrong. uhh yeahhh. Therefore copying is not wrong. hmm…sorry are you a moron?”

On another blog, “Anonymous” said, “I’m sure the manufacturer of the bicycle in the cartoon will be glad that making a copy of the bicycle is so easy. This will free him from the burden of actually manufacturing and selling bicycles which used to be a high-paid technical position. User-generated copying saved him just like it saved the music industry.”

If you’re a bicycle maker, or musicians, having people copy your work for free may not put you in the mood to sing along with this catchy little tune.

Tiger Woods, did you learn anything?

Nike just released a new ad featuring Tiger Woods and the voice of his deceased father. The voice over by Earl Woods concludes with the line, “Did you learn anything?” My question to Nike is, “did YOU learn anything?”

You can see the spot here and read more about it here. Stephen Colbert even weighed in with alternate versions of the spot.

People I’ve spoken to see the spot as polarizing…they either love it or hate it. One possible explanation for the divergent views is that the blank expression on Tiger’s face, and the polysemic nature of the phrases spoken by Tiger’s late father, allows the viewer to project onto the spot what the viewer already feels. If you believe that Tiger still has penance to perform, this spot is unlikely to convince you to give him a pass.

Nike may be hoping that his fans are predisposed to extend an olive branch to Tiger…but early responses suggest that the public is not quite ready to do that. The Tiger brand was built on his squeaky-clean image and his role as father, son and husband. That all came crashing down with revelations of Tiger’s “transgressions” and rumors about his father’s indiscretions.

Nike may have erred by jumping the gun and this spot may, in the end, be a detour on Tiger’s road to recovery.

It’s Almost Oscar Time

The 82nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards show, aka the Oscars, is just 12 days away. For the first time since 1943, ten films are up for Best Picture. Some speculators are predicting that Avatar will take home the gold. But there are some reasons to doubt. Avatar didn’t win a best screenplay nomination and none of the actors were nominated for their roles.

There will be awards for best actor, best actress, best director, best costume design, best makeup, best editing, best visual effects, best sound mixing, best…well, you get the idea. This is a big party and lots and lots of accolades will be distributed to the best and the brightest. For a partial list of nominees, see the Oscar website.

Two of the films up for best director are Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Both films have been nominated in eight categories in addition to Best Director. Directors James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are not only competitors, they were husband and wife for a couple of years about 20 years ago.

As a fan of documentary films I will be watching to see which film wins in this category. I’m pulling for Food, Inc. Here’s a documentary that will make you want to go out and buy five acres, some chickens, goats, steers and take up farming and ranching. Any documentary that can make me reconsider eating meat (or at least meat produced on factory farms) deserves some kind of award.

The hosts of this years show are Steve Martin and Alex Baldwin. The broadcast, by ABC TV network, will air on Sunday, March 7th and will originate from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Battle of the Titans

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates? Google vs Yahoo? NYT vs Washington Post? Nope! American Idol vs the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on NBC. This week saw the ever-popular Olympic games up against the Fox reality TV powerhouse American Idol. Early ratings suggest that the match is tied at 1 and 1. Fox took the title on Tuesday evening with a 2-hour elimination episode that pulled a 22 share among adults 18-49, while NBC won Wednesday evening thanks to six American medals, including gold medal performances  by Lindsey “Play Through the Pain” Vonn and Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White. Last night was the first time that American Idol lost their time slot since April of 2004!

One moment of controversy arose when Shaun White’s coach dropped the S-bomb on live TV during their victory celebration. According to Business Insider the indecent language will not invite the wrath of the FCC since the broadcast aired in the Safe Harbor time…at least on the East Coast, not sure if it aired before 10pm in either Rocky Mountain or West Coast time zones. In either case the bigger story may be that NBC was actually airing something live. NBC has been receiving criticism for its decision to tape delay the broadcast of downhill skiing in order to save this popular event for their more lucrative prime-time audience. For the die-hard fans out there, anything less than live is a compromise.

Have Grammy Awards become Irrelevant?

Okay, there are a million opinions out there (reality check: Google search = about 44.4K results) about whether the Grammy awards have become irrelevant. First some quick background. The 52nd Grammy Awards, on CBS tonight, will probably have less than 20 million viewers (update: 2.13.11, they had 25.8 million viewers in 2010, the most in 6 years). Compare that to 90 million for the Superbowl next week and 30+ million for American Idol. Unlike American Idol, the Grammy awards do not incorporate viewer/popular voting. The Grammy awards are selected by industry professionals who belong to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and who skew older than the average music fan. Some argue that the Grammys are about musical consensus and we are no longer (if we ever were) a nation of consensus, especially when it comes to musical tastes. So, what do you think? Which of the following statements best describes your view of the Grammy awards?

  • There are too many music awards shows on TV.
  • The Grammy judges don’t acknowledge the artists that I like and listen to.
  • The artists don’t seem to care, why should I?
  • The performances are usually pretty lame.
  • The music industry is in a free-fall…and the Grammy Awards celebrates the industry, not the musicians.
  • Other: _____________ (fill in the blank)

Want to Work in the Media?

A new study released this week by CareerCast.com, and reported in the WSJ, evaluates 200 professions to determine the best and worst according to five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. Of course these are somewhat subjective criteria and your experience may be quite different from those reported by CareerCast.

So just how did the media-related professions stack up against the competition? Well, let’s look first at the very best and very worst jobs out there. At the top of the list are three math-related professions: mathematician (#1), actuary (#2), and statistician (#3…Audience Research students, please note this one!). The worst? Lumberjack (#200), dairy farmer (#199), and taxi driver (#198).

A quick scan for media jobs yields a wide range on the scale of 1-200. Here they are from best to worst.

  • #19 Motion Picture Editor
  • #23 Web Developer
  • #31 Publication Editor
  • #44 Market Research Analyst
  • #75 Newscaster
  • #79 Advertising Account Executive
  • #108 DJ
  • #112 Public Relations Executive
  • #140 Reporter (newspaper), Janitor is #141
  • #167 Photojournalist

Data used to determine the ranking came from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, as well as other sources.

Idol’s New Season Starts Tonight

American Idol has been a huge success for the Fox TV network. Year after year at first place in the ratings, AI continues to dominate prime time TV. That kind of success yields substantial revenue. A 30-second spot on Idol nets Fox over $600,000. That and product placement deals with Coke, Ford, AT&T, iTunes and others makes this franchise a gold mine.

Earlier today I asked my Media & Society students why they think American Idol is such a hit with viewers and they offered up several very insightful responses.

  1. Viewers are able to participate in the potential rags-to-riches story line of contestants…seeing themselves as potentially rich and famous if they were just given an opportunity to compete.
  2. We enjoy seeing people make fools of themselves on TV. The Germans have a word for it…schadenfreude, which is translated as pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
  3. The large contestant pool means that our social network may allow us to know someone who knows someone who is a contestant. The old six-degrees-of-separation meme strikes again!
  4. And, the interactivity and audience participation provided by the text voting gives viewers/voters a sense of ownership.

I think the students came up with some very compelling explanations for the success of American Idol. It will be interesting to see if that success continues. In case you haven’t heard, the big news this season is the planned departure of the acerbic Simon Cowell. Cowell reportedly turned down $144 million per year to stay. Time will tell just how much Simon’s biting commentaries will be missed by fans of the show. What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for American Idol?

Tiger’s Public Transgressions

Many of us wish this story would just go away, but it won’t…so here are a few lessons for students of the media.

#1: ALL celebrity endorsement deals come with some risk. If you had asked executives at Nike, Gatorade, etc. whether there was risk associated with hiring Tiger Woods as a celebrity spokesperson, they likely would have replied that the risk was minimal. But if they thought it was zero, they were wrong. Will it do long-term damage to their brands and to the Tiger Woods brand? It is too soon to tell, but there will be fall out for Tiger and every other celebrity that has a “squeaky clean” image.

#2: Crisis Management PR has changed dramatically in the age of cable news, the blogosphere, and the twitterverse. PR agents have got to get ahead of the story and be much more transparent than in the past. Remember, the media (both traditional and new media) exist to uncover and distribute “dirt” and attempts to stonewall will only compound the problem.

#3: As we’ve been reminded recently by the parents of balloon boy and the White House party crashing Salahi’s, reality TV culture makes people do crazy things for their 15 minutes of fame/notoriety. Anyone remotely “connected” to the Tiger Woods drama will see opportunity to cash in by playing the tabloid media. Releasing cell phone messages and scheduling press conferences strings along the media and extends their window of opportunity.

#4: <editorial warning>There is no such thing as a private “transgression.”</editorial warning>

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