Tag: NBC

Is War Now Entertainment?

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

NBC debuted its latest version of reality programming with “Stars Earn Stripes,” hosted by retired Gen. Wesley Clark. The series premise is real celebrities competing in various challenges for charity based off actual training exercises used by the U.S. military, accompanied by members of the United States Armed Forces and others. The money will go to charities that honor the troops but, as Glenn Greenwald wonders, will actual troop feel about their combat experiences and lives being exploited for fun and profit by NBC since the money NBC will from commercials will not go to charity. But, hey, it’s for The Troops. Are you against the troops?

The ways in which this is all so sleazy, repulsive and propagandistic are too self-evident to require much discussion. There is, though, a real value: here we have a major television network finally being relatively candid about the fact that they view war and militarism, first and foremost, as a source of entertainment and profit. Recall the incredible April, 2003, speech given by then-MSNBC-star-war-correspondent Ashleigh Banfield regarding how NBC and MSNBC, then owned by military supplier GE, benefited from propaganstic war coverage in Iraq, a speech that (as she clearly anticipated when she delivered it) caused her subsequent demotion and then disappearance from MSNBC and cable news [..]

I suppose you watch enough television to know that the big TV show is over and that the war is now over essentially – the major combat operations are over anyway, according to the Pentagon and defense officials – but there is so much that is left behind. . . .

That said, what didn’t you see? You didn’t see where those bullets landed. You didn’t see what happened when the mortar landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me. There are horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism or was this coverage?

There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you’re getting the story, it just means you’re getting one more arm or leg of the story. And that’s what we got, and it was a glorious, wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news.

But it wasn’t journalism, because I’m not so sure that we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war, because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successful terrific endeavor, and we got rid of a horrible leader: We got rid of a dictator, we got rid of a monster, but we didn’t see what it took to do that. [..]

It’s actually necessary that America have a network reality show that pairs big, muscular soldiers with adoring D-list celebrities – hosted by a former Army General along with someone who used to be on Dancing with the Stars – as they play sanitized war games for the amusement of viewers, all in between commercials from the nation’s largest corporations. That’s way too perfect of a symbol of American culture and politics for us not to have.

Nine Nobel Laureates have called for NBC to end the show:

Nine Nobel Peace laureates, including retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, on Monday called on television network NBC to cancel its “Stars Earn Stripes” reality show, calling it a bid to “sanitize war by likening it to an athletic competition.” [..]

“It is our belief that this program pays homage to no one anywhere and continues and expands on an inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence.

“Real war is down in the dirt deadly. People – military and civilians – die in ways that are anything but entertaining,” the letter said.

The Nobel-winning signatories called on NBC to “stop airing this program.” [..]

A number of anti-war groups have sponsored a petition to get NBC to protest NBC’s glorification of war without the blood and dying:

NBC has created an entertainment show that breaks new ground. “Stars Earn Stripes” is co-hosted by retired U.S. general Wesley Clark.  NBC promoted the show during its Summer Olympics telecast as the next big sporting event.  But the sport it’s exhibiting is war.

On “Stars Earn Stripes,” celebrities pair-up with members of the U.S. military to compete at war-like tasks, including “long-range weapons fire.” Only there isn’t any of the killing or dying.

Our wars kill huge numbers of people, primarily civilians, and often children and the elderly.  NBC is not showing this reality on its war-o-tainment show any more than on its news programs.  Other nations’ media show the face of war, giving people a very different view of war-making.

In the United States, our tax dollars are spent by the billions each year marketing the idea that war is a sport and associating the military with sporting events.  Media companies like NBC are complicit in the propaganda.

While 57% of federal discretionary spending goes to the military, weapons makers can’t seem to get enough of our tax dollars.  In the spirit of transferring veterans’ care to the realm of private charity, “Stars Earn Stripes” will give prize money each week to “military-based charities” in order to “send a message.”  We have our own message that we will be delivering to NBC: Dont lie to us.

One of NBC’s corporate parents, General Electric, takes war very seriously, but not as human tragedy — rather, as financial profit.  (GE is a big weapons manufacturer.) A retired general hosting a war-o-tainment show is another step in the normalization of permanent war.

You can sign the petition here

What is Your Fav ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketch Ever?

Crossposted at Daily Kos

‘Saturday Night Live’ … the mere mention of the show brings a smile to so many faces.  The talented cast members.  The memorable sketches.  The unforgettable characters.  SNL holds a special place in our hearts and lives.  And has done so since its inaugural season in 1975.  

What is SNL’s appeal and what accounts for its enduring success?  The Washington Post‘s TV critic Tom Shales wrote this in 2002 in a book about SNL



Bill Murray (left) and Jane Curtin on ‘Weekend Update’

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The success of ‘Saturday Night Live’ sparked a renaissance in topical, satirical, and political humor; launched the careers of innumerable new talents; hugely expanded the parameters of what was ‘acceptable’ material on the air; and helped bestow upon the comedy elite the hip-mythic status that rock stars had long enjoyed.

The Week in Editorial Cartoons – In Corporations We Trust

Crossposted at Daily Kos

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::



John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon

The Week in Editorial Cartoons – Sarah Palin’s Brilliant FOX Debut

Crossposted from Daily Kos.  I didn’t have the time yesterday to post it here.

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

The Teabaggers’ Intellectual

Clay Bennett

Clay Bennett, Comics.com

Sheeple Shit News

When I have to partake things from the commercial infotainment propaganda system I have to filter it out spiritually.  To see the big picture details are just not important rather details do get in the way of seeing the big picture.  NBC WBZTV in Boston ended a “newscast” story about the Newark airport fiasco by saying there ought to be stiffer penalties for the guy who walked through a vacant screening station thus shutting down the entire airport.  WTF?  Allow me to get a tad crude here.  Allow me to fully illustrate my current contempt.

On Making It Work, Or, An Open Letter To Network TV

After a decade-long slide into semi-irrelevance, it’s now being announced that the major television broadcast networks are considering leaving behind the “free TV/advertiser supported” business model in order to turn themselves into something more closely resembling a cable operation; the idea being that they could create a second revenue stream from the same “subscriber fees” that are paid by cable and satellite operators to all the other channels those operators carry.

This has become necessary, according to the networks, partly because the market has become so fragmented…which, naturally, is cable’s fault-and presumably the fault of the disloyal viewer, as well.

Another reason driving the change is related to the desire of the networks to have a source of revenue that’s more reliable in times of economic downturn, when advertisers often try to husband scarce resources by cutting back on all their expenses, particularly advertising dollars.

Will this new change in the business model reverse the fortunes of the networks?

Is it possible that the networks are simply poor business managers?

And what about…Krystal Carey?

Tune in for the rest of the story-and we’ll find out.

Is Rupert Murdoch Picking His Partner’s Pockets …

… or is NewsCorp just an Old Media Dinosaur that cannot keep up?

Burning the Midnight Oil for Breaking the Silicon Cage

Also available in Orange

Breaking the Silicon Cage is for breaking down those barriers that prevent us from leveraging the full potential of the netroots for progressive populist action – whether that involves using the internet for collaboration on works to be delivered live on the street, or breaking down barriers between different social networks on the internet itself.

The latter is what we have here. The progressive blogosphere, if people are to believe our words (though not always our actions) is an enemy of Rupert Murdoch and his Iraq-Invasion-supporting, Conservative-Politician-electing multinational media empire. We in the US know him primarily for the Faux News Channel, but in the UK and Australia they know him for his grossly biased newspaper oligopolies.

If Progressives were indeed intent on taking power (something Cassiodorus questions), we would be eager to take any shots at Rupert Murdch’s Media Empire that we could.

Now, I’m game, and a few others have expressed their interest, but for the most part the reaction of the blogosphere is a big, “why should I become outraged by that in particular”. If the thousands of US service members and hundreds of thousands of lives disrupted – hundreds of thousands of Iraqis kills and millions of Iraqi lives disrupted – is too big a reason to grasp for being outraged at Rupert Murdoch and his media empire … then be outraged for the mother (above right) of Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, killed in action in a War of Choice that Rupert Murdoch loudly banged the drum in favor of choosing.

Dennis wins suit: Here’s why NBC/GE want him off the stage!

NBC/GE is holding a presidential debate in Nevada tomorrow, January 15, 2008!  They had invited four candidates to the event, as all of them had met NBC/GE’s criteria for the event.  The four candidates were to be JE, HRC, BO and DK!

Fujita Yukihisa

Japan is having discussions on increasing their military and financial aide to the US in the “global war on terror”.

From another location comes this.

On January 11th 2008, Fujita Yukihisa made a 30 minute presentation at the House of Councillors (equivalent to the U.S. Senate). He directly questioned the official version of 9/11 in a session with Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo and members of his Cabinet.

Fujita is a member of the opposition party, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). He was elected to the House of Councillors in 2007. He is a former Member of the House of Representative and Former Vice Director General of the International Department of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Fujita emphasized that there was never an official police investigation into the deaths of the 24 Japanese citizens who were killed on 9/11.

He stated that many in the US doubt the official version of 9/11 and numerous individuals have collected evidence that contradicts the government’s version, which can be seen on many websites.

During his speech, an aide showed several larges photos of:

– the Pentagon entry and exit hole and a scale overlay of a 757

– the flight path towards the Pentagon

– the WTC Twin Towers exploding

– the WTC 7 collapse

– the early announcment of the collapse of WTC 7 by the BBC and CBS

He demanded further investigation of 9/11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

First Sibel Edmonds revelations, an election recount and now this!

Oh, we had a wonderful trail ride today.

Classy: NBC disinvites Dennis Kucinich to 1/15 debate after publicly inviting him! w/poll

Well, the big three only supporters have their wish.  The January 15 debate will now be a three centerist candidate confab!

Let Blackwater Stay Bring Home The Troops

subtitled: America, the militia with corporate sponsorship.

We all know that Blackwater is made up of American militia members, often addicted to crystal meth, known for their racial hatred and itchy trigger fingers.  We also know that Exxon and other oil firms have been using Blackwater for some time now.  So I say let a few guys from Exxon and all of Blackwater stay to guard their precious oil and let everyone else come home.  This is the Exxon War after all, so let’s let a few tweakers go down in flames in Iraq and bring back our honorable soldiers.

Now let’s take a look at a few other corporate sponsors of the Exxon War below the fold.