MPAA on 60 Minutes tonight 11/2

[wmansir]

I was just starting my day of football watching when I saw a commercial for 60 Minutes tonight. It was a short promo which basically said:

"Downloading a movie may not seem like a crime to you, but to the MPAA it is. And one way or another your going to pay."

The 60M website says:

"PIRATES OF THE INTERNET – Hollywood is hopping mad because its movies, sometimes even before they’re released, are now being swapped and downloaded for free off the Internet. Lesley Stahl reports."

I doubt there will be any new info for those of us who follow these things, but it's interesting to see how these issues are presented to the masses. 60 Minutes usually does a good job, but can be sensationalist and/or biased sometimes. I hope the CBS/Paramount relationship isn't too influential, since they are members of the MPAA.

Showtime is 7PM EST.

[Die*wrek*show]

I don't think people are gonna pay much attention to this, given the world climate at the moment. It's their own fault. That's just my opinion on it.:cool:

[Neo Neko]

Biased would be one word for it. Flaming bias would be more appropriate. There was no objectivity in what was shown. It was simply file traders and P2P networks are evil. Now I know why I don't watch 60 minutes.

[wmansir]

I knew it wouldn't be pretty when the segment started out by talking about "digital thieves" "stealing movies", and "perfect digital copy". They didn't even talk to anyone who had downloaded a movie, they just showed video of "college kids" and asked the head of Fox what people who download movies think about what they are doing ("They know it's stealing").

They also did a bit of a hatchet job on the CEO of Grockster. They interviewed him, but didn't let him articulate his company's position very well (that part is probably on the editing room floor) and they also used unflattering cuts. Like after one response they keep the shot on him while he takes a drink from his soda bottle, then when they refer to him later in the segment they use that same shot of him taking a swig as their stock footage of him.

I was most disappointed by the failure to disclose their VERY CLOSE relationship to the MPAA. I mean that's journalism 101 stuff.

[Kedirekin]

I almost turned it off in the first 5 seconds, as soon as I heard them say that "file swapping has decimated the music industry".

Decimated? Wow, this is sure to be unbiased.

I didn't turn it off though - I watched it through.

I really feel this in one plank in their platform to educate the masses, but I think they're going to have to do a better job than that. At least, I hope the masses aren't going to swallow what this report had to offer - it was pretty weak.

[trbarry]

mod
Biased would be one word for it. Flaming bias would be more appropriate. There was no objectivity in what was shown. It was simply file traders and P2P networks are evil. Now I know why I don't watch 60 minutes.

CBS is a major proponent of the Broadcast Flag which the FCC may (or not) announce next week. So it's easy to think of this as Viacom's attempt to influence the public on a political event that may cause some bad press.

However this event may also be used as documentation of how 5 companies basically control all major USA commercial TV and cable channels and may be abusing that monopoly power to pursue their own ends.

- Tom

[Doom9]

Reminds me of their indoctrination classes I reported about a few days ago. Maybe we should start a fund to buy off politicians and TV airtime to get our message across (after all that would only be playing fair).