Disinformation » Television

Mythbusters Banned From Discussing RFID By Visa And Mastercard

JacobSloan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:00:05 +0000

Host Adam Savage of Mythbusters tells how Visa, Mastercard, and Discover had the Discovery Channel put the kibosh on an episode that would have revealed just how “trackable and hackable” the RFID chips found in many credit cards are. It’s a telling example of how corporate advertisers serve as the gatekeepers of mainstream media/entertainment:

‘Soul Train’ Moments: Young Al Sharpton (Video)

ralph — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:27:06 +0000

In the news because Soul Train creator Don Cornelius died today. This nineteen-year-old would run for president (see Al after Mr. James Brown, around the 2:30 mark into this clip):

Julian Assange, Television Series Host

Good German — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:10:12 +0000

Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)

Common Dreams reports:

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, has announced plans for a new television series. The program will launch mid-March and will include ten weekly half-hour episodes featuring “in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world.”

Should things go accordingly for Assange, the show will “explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths? This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before,” Assange states.

The theme of the show will be “the world tomorrow”. The Wikileaks press release adds:

Upheavals and revolutions in the Middle East have commenced an era of political change that is still unfolding. In the West, the deterioration of the rule of law has demonstrated the bankruptcy of once leading political institutions and ideologies. The internet has never been so strong, or so much under attack.

At this pivotal moment there is an awareness of the need to radically rethink the world around us.

WikiLeaks, as the world’s boldest publisher, has been at the front line of this global movement for understanding and change. Its founder, Julian Assange, as the subject of an ongoing Grand Jury investigation in the United States for over 500 days now, is one of the world’s most recognizable revolutionary figures.

Both a pioneer for a more just world and a victim of political repression, he is uniquely placed to catalyse a global discussion on how to go forward.

In recognition of this, Assange will draw together controversial voices from across the political spectrum – iconoclasts, visionaries and power insiders – each to offer a window on the world tomorrow and their ideas on how to secure a brighter future.

Assange is planning to host the show, although it is uncertain whether or not he will actually be around for this. The state of his pending court decision — potential extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault — remains unknown until February 1st.

Living In A Real World House Of Lies

Danny Schechter — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:56:01 +0000

If you go to the corner of 8^th Avenue and 42^nd Street near Times Square in Manhattan, just down from the Wax Museum and around the corner from the bus station, and look up, you’ll see an oversized billboard for Showtime’s fast -paced “House of Lies,” a new cable TV series that is more like a realistic docudrama about the world of hard-charging management consultants.

Don Cheadle stars in this tightly written challenge to the popular “Mad Men” glorification of Madison Avenue in the 1950’s, spiced with the insertion of pretty graphic hot sex that makes Janet Jackson’s Superbowl moment seem like it belonged on the Disney Channel. An actor on the series laughingly downplays the explicit physical grappling as “naughty.”

At a time when Mitt Romney, a former management consultant himself in his years at Bain, is running for president, this show offers insight into just how vulgar vulgar capitalism can be.

In one scene, the team headed by Cheadle who plays the superslick Marty Kaan (a.k.a. “King Kaan”) is pitching a bank president on how to win over the public by offering no interest loans and guarantees to keep customers in their homes.

When his prospective client rejects the idea, it is explained that very few of his customers will end up” qualifying” for the “benefit” which is designed as a phony image-enhancer to allow him and his cronies to take big bonuses without any criticism.

When he understands that he can get richer by appearing socially responsible, he hires the team.

It’s all a clever flim-flam, but sounds suspiciously like what most of the big banks did when pedaling fraudulent loans.

The Internet Motion Picture Data Base calls the series, “a subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm. Marty, a highly successful, cutthroat consultant is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they want.”

Cheadle’s work in this series is very political even as it is promoted as only entertainment, and comedy.

Perhaps that is why cheeky reviewers in such high level publications like Entertainment Weekly attack it by acknowledging that the issues it raises are appropriate, but. of course, not the way they raise them.

Ken Tucker writes,

“And at this time in history, who doesn’t want to see undeservingly wealthy people get fleeced, or at least brought low by their avarice? In practice, however, House of Lies becomes a zero-sum game: Creeps conning creeps, and the creeps we’re supposed to root for — Cheadle’s gang at Galweather & Stearn, led by their boss, The West Wing‘s Richard Schiff — don’t seem all that much more interesting than the clients they’re gouging.”

Au contraire. New York Magazine gets closer to the truth by writing:

“Marty and his clients portray the one percent at their very worst: “You look at the pilot and go, ‘Man, these guys helped these assholes be happier and keep doing their business,’ ” says Cheadle. “But they give themselves the out that ‘we’re not the ones doing it. They’re doing it. We’re just helping them do it better.’….

“The timing, between Occupy Wall Street and the presidential election, couldn’t be better for a sendup of corporate amorality and the kind of M.B.A. capitalism Mitt Romney, at Bain & Co., helped perfect.”

Remember, Cheadle starred in Hotel Rwanda (2004), a film about the Rwandan genocide. He later was active in promoting awareness of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The IMDCB reminds us that, “In January 2005, he traveled to Sudan with five members of Congress to see refugee camps and to meet survivors of the genocide. Upon his return, he reported on his trip for “ABC News Nightline” (1980).”

Today the only films about Romney the real world con (man) sultan(t) are full-length attack ads like the one that New Gingrich made and then apologized for making.

Increasingly, to get to the truth of any of this you have to watch TV entertainment, or films, not news, Stephen Colbert can raise the critique about money in politics that he does because he is considered a comic, someone who “riffs” (to use a NY Times word) not a serious commentator.

Unfortunately, in our culture, information has to be presented as entertainment to be taken seriously because information programming and news reporting is so predictable and formularized. The best new film on the financial crisis is “Margin Call.” Documentaries like the ones I have done on banksters can’t compete in this environment.

That’s one of the reasons the big Internet sites went after the new bill on online piracy arguing it would make it harder to reference copywritten material in social criticism and free speech.

Of course, they also did it because they were being threatened with fines and jail time for carrying, or allowing others to download, music and movies that Hollywood producers and the Music Biz want to control to keep their profits high.

They are the real pirates in this piracy debate. The lesson in the one-day so-called “internet strike” led by Wikipedia, Google et.al is that when usually competitive companies collaborate they have a lot of power.

The left blogosphere could learn this lesson. While the right-wing punditocracy tend to share and reinforce the same message, radicals love to fight with each other in pursuit of the “correct line” and often dissipate their impact by magnifying small differences to prove some often-insignificant point.

I had that experience with some organizations I approached to work with Globalvision in creating the collaborative not for profit Mediachannel.org network to try to help build a media and democracy movement.

They insisted on not working together or cross promoting each other’s work because it would, they feared, diminish their vanguard role. In their own way they were as single-mindedly competitive as any avaricious capitalist firm.

Some said ‘we will hurt ourselves if we help you,’ retreating into what became a self-serving parochial cottage industry that was not growing.

In one sense they projected the values that were the bain of the Bain “solution.”

Today, Mediachannel is back as Mediachannel1.org, in an alliance with Rob Kall’s Op-ed News, hoping to reclaim its cutting-edge role in dissecting media as a window into what’s wrong with our system, and what we can do about it.

Join us as members or affiliates. Working together helps make the difference in the house of lies we live in.

News Dissector Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel1.org and writes the NewsDissector.com blog. His new book is OCCUPY: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street (Coldtype.net). His film on the financial crisis as a crime story is Plunder: The Crime of our Time (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com) Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org

Weed Wars: Medical Marijuana Hits Reality TV

phunkychic666 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:49:54 +0000

From www.reason.tv:

“Most of our patients and our staff were really skeptical about doing a reality TV show because they were watching Jersey Shore and The Kardashians,” says Andrew DeAngelo, general manager of Oakland, California’s Harborside Health Center, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the world. Andrew and his brother, Harborside’s Executive Director Steve DeAngleo, are co-stars of Weed Wars, a new show by the Discovery Channel that looks into lives of those who run Harborside, the patients that seek out their services, and the politicians looking to shut them down.

“There are a lot of stigmas about medical cannabis patients, that we don’t work hard, that we’re a bunch of stoners, that we are lazy, that we are really criminals or drug traffickers,” explains Andrew DeAngleo. “All that is a lie that has been perpetrated by the feds and the media.” By opening up their work and lives to cameras, the DeAngelo brothers hope to present a side of the medical marijuana debate that is rarely seen on American television. “This is our chance – and our patients and our staff’s chance – to shine.”…

[continues at www.reason.tv]

Dutch TV-Show Hosts Appear to Dine on Each Other’s Flesh

bluemana — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:22:04 +0000

Alyssa Newcomb reports on ABC News:

Two Dutch television-show hosts said they had their flesh cooked by a top chef and then dined on each other before a studio audience.

“Nothing is really that special when you’re talking about the taste of the meat,” host Dennis Storm told ABCNews.com. “But it is weird to look into the eyes of a friend when you are chewing on his belly.”

Part of Storm’s left butt cheek was carved out by a surgeon, while his co-host, Valerio Zeno, opted to have a piece of his abdomen removed, they say.

“We went to the butcher, the surgeon and the studio, then we looked at each other and just ate it,” Storm said. “The special thing is, it was his flesh, of course.”

Fox News Becoming More Liberal?!?

majestic — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:49 +0000

According to Gabriel Sherman at New York Magazine there are moves afoot to move Fox News Channel to the political center … I guess we’ll see.

When six GOP primary contenders descended on Fox News’ midtown headquarters for a “candidates forum” with a trio of red state attorneys general on Saturday night, the candidates probably expected tough questions about their positions. But they certainly didn’t expect to find a New York Times reporter roaming backstage.

Fox’s decision to allow Times scribe Jim Rutenberg into the building to confront the candidates in person threw campaign aides off guard, especially in the Romney camp, which went into “defensive mode immediately, insisting that the reporter stay far away,” as Rutenberg later wrote.

But the decision was just the latest example of what Fox head Roger Ailes recently called a “course correction” in an interview with Howard Kurtz of Newsweek. The Romney team’s debate-night tussle was the second embarrassing episode suffered by the candidate at the hands of Fox News in a week, after Bret Baier conducted a hard-hitting interview with Romney on November 29 that made news for several days. (After the contentious interview, Baier told Bill O’Reilly that Romney privately called his questions “overly aggressive” and “uncalled for.”) The network has also taken on the other GOP primary contenders. In July, Chris Wallace pointedly asked Michele Bachmann “are you a flake?” And in November, Fox gave a platform to Herman Cain accuser Sharon Bialek and her attorney Gloria Allred.

This chaotic and raucous primary season is demonstrating that Roger Ailes will put the interests of his network ahead of all else…

[continues at New York Magazine]

Blame the Greek Gods For Greece’s Failed Economy

bluemana — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:28:40 +0000

From Saturday Night Live:

Sesame Street Introduces Poor Muppet To Teach About Poverty (Sponsored by Wal-Mart)

bluemana — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:43:36 +0000

The special episode is sponsored by Wal-Mart. Ain’t that a kicker? Gabriela Resto-Montero writes in the NY Daily News:

There’s a new kid on the block on “Sesame Street.” The long-running children’s show will debut a new muppet, Lily, in a primetime special that highlights childhood poverty and hunger, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Lily’s family background reflects the bitter economic reality of the 17 million American children who live without regular access to affordable and nutritious food, the magazine reported. Country music singer Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams Paisley, will host the hour-long show, titled “Growing Hope against Hunger.”

“We are honored that Sesame Street, with its long history of tackling difficult issues with sensitivity, caring and warmth, asked us to be a part of this important project,” the couple said in a statement. The show will air Sunday, Oct. 9. It is sponsored by Walmart.

Rick Perry Bad Lip Reading Speech

JacobSloan — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:09:13 +0000

“What’s good is to get these goats for our computer industry.”

Finally an inspirational candidate with something exciting to say emerges in the presidential race.

Jim Henson Was America’s Greatest Surrealist (Video)

bluemana — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:33:58 +0000

Alex Pasternack writes on MotherBoard:

In 1979, Henson showed “Limbo (The Organized Mind),” on Johnny Carson’s show, bringing the Muppets into his bizarre equation. The music was scored by Scott.

Read the entire article on MotherBoard

Jesse Ventura Back With More Conspiracy Theories

majestic — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:58:19 +0000

Like him or loathe him, Jesse Ventura has achieved the mostly impossible: giving national TV airtime to conspiracy theories (of the unofficial variety). TVByTheNumbers regurgitates the press release that a third season of conspiracies is coming soon, with Jesse’s son and Oliver Stone’s son joining the team:

If there’s an urban legend or Conspiracy Theory out there, Jesse Ventura is determined to get to the bottom of it. The soldier, wrestler, politician and best-selling author is hitting the road for the third season of truTV’s hit series Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. The new season promises even more mystery and mayhem as the rebel and freethinker investigates secrets “they” don’t want people to know. Upping the ante against alleged cover-ups, Jesse and veteran team member June Sarpong will be joined by a “new generation” of conspiracy busters: Jesse’s own son, Tyrel Ventura, and Sean Stone, son of controversial Oscar®-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone (JFK). The eight-episode third season of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura is slated to launch on truTV in 2012.

As the saying goes, a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put on its boots. That seems to be the case more and more in today’s world of 24-hour news and rapid-fire social media. Jesse Ventura thinks it’s time for truth to have a fighting chance. He and his team are setting out to find the facts and expose the lies behind some of today’s most pervasive – and occasionally persuasive – legends and myths.

The third season of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura will be a fun, fast-paced examination of stories, myths and legends that are all-too-often accepted as fact. There’s no theory Jesse and his team won’t investigate, whether it’s as outrageous as the existence of lizard people or as chilling as government-led surgical experimentation on human subjects…

Don’t forget to check out Jesse’s recent interview at the disinformation NYC offices:

Star Trek Background Scenery

JacobSloan — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:51:32 +0000

The Space Trek tumblr is a collection of lushly colored, eerily beautiful establishing shots from Star Trek episodes — the brief moments on the show during which the actors were out of frame. It presents a vision of a calm, pristine, simultaneously alluring and foreboding distant future, and supports my theory that most television programs would be better minus the characters.

Wannabe Vampire Arrested For Bloodsucking Assault

majestic — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:49:43 +0000

Why didn’t anyone tell the guy that you can buy Tru Blood from the HBO Store? Reuters reports:

The arrest of a Texas man who broke into a woman’s house, threw her against a wall and tried to suck her blood over the weekend has sparked discussion over the impact of vampire books and movies on U.S. youth culture.

Whether pop culture played a role in the attack remains to be seen, as 19-year-old Lyle Monroe Bensley awaits a psychiatric evaluation in jail on burglary charges in Galveston, Texas, southeast of Houston.

Found growling and hissing in a parking lot and wearing only boxer shorts, the pierced and tattooed Bensley claimed he was a 500-year-old vampire who needed to “feed,” Galveston Police Capt. Jeff Heyse said.

Vampires have been a focal point of literature since Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, “Dracula”. But fascination, particularly among young people, has peaked in recent years with the popularity of the “Twilight” books about teenage vampires and the HBO series, “True Blood.”

“I think the vampire is a metaphor for the outsider and the predator in all of us,” said author Anne Rice, whose Vampire Chronicles series has captured the imaginations of horror fans since the 1970s…

[continues at Reuters]

Every Hour Of TV Can Shorten Your Life By 22 Minutes

majestic — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:57:24 +0000

And after the age of 25, watching 60 minutes of television is like smoking two cigarettes! From MSNBC:

Watching an hour of TV after the age of 25 can shorten the viewer’s life by just under 22 minutes, according to researchers in Australia.

The AFP news agency said scientists at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland studied 11,000 Australian adults who were aged at least 25 in the year 2000.

The academics checked their data against an estimate from 2008 that Australians aged 25 or above watched TV for 9.8 billion hours. This was associated with the loss of 286,000 years of life, the AFP said.

An extrapolation of these figures found that a single hour of TV was responsible for the loss of just under 22 minutes of life, the news agency reported.

Smoking two cigarettes has approximately the same effect.

The problem is not actually TV itself but the lack of activity by the viewer for long periods, the researches said. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, excess weight and other health problems are associated with a sedentary lifestyle…

[continues at MSNBC]

Bill Maher Vs. Religion on His Own Show (Video)

bluemana — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:23:15 +0000

Why Is No One Watching Porn On TV Anymore?

majestic — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:08:49 +0000

The TV networks are hurting because their most profitable customers – viewers of pornography – just aren’t watching enough. Sam Schechner and Jessica E. Vascellaro report for the Wall Street Journal:

Cable and satellite television companies have a pornography problem: Their customers aren’t watching enough of it.

Companies’ revenue from highly profitable adult video-on-demand and pay-per-view services has been slipping, as the genre’s consumers spend more time browsing porn on the Web.

The trend is prompting TV executives to pull back the curtain on how porn contributes to their businesses, a topic they have been loath to discuss publicly.

On Thursday, satellite provider DirecTV cited “lower adult buys” as a cause for weaker pay-per-view revenue in its second quarter earnings. That followed Time Warner Cable Inc.’s admission last week that shrinkage in the adult category was responsible for more than a third of a $14 million drop in video-on-demand revenue. While only a sliver of the cable company’s $4.9 billion in revenue for the quarter, porn is one of TV providers’ most profitable segments.

Other cable- and satellite-TV executives say they have been weathering the problem for years. “There’s been a fairly steady trend over some time period now for adult to go down largely because there’s that kind of material available on the Internet for free,” Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable’s CEO, said on a conference call to discuss earnings results last week.

Adult TV’s woes echo broader challenges that the television business is facing from Internet video. Distributors and TV networks, for instance, are talking about restricting next-day Web streaming of TV shows, which some executives believe eats into ratings and makes it easier for television viewers to become “cord-cutters.”

“This should be a cautionary tale for the larger content community,” one cable-TV executive said of the porn declines. “This content is devalued to our customers because of the alternative models.”…

[continues in the Wall Street Journal]

Afghanistan Getting Its Own Politically-Charged Version Of ‘The Office’ Sitcom

Pelliciari — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:34:30 +0000

The Office was a hit in England before it became a hit in the States. With the mock-documentary, hand-cam style of filming, Afghanistan is now getting it’s own version entitled The Ministry. Daily Mail reports:

Rather than being set in a Slough paper manufacturing firm, ‘The Ministry’ is based in the war-torn country’s Ministry of Garbage. The mock-documentary has been filmed in exactly the same way as Ricky Gervais’ BBC comedy.

Footage of the characters addressing the camera directly, as if being interviewed, is interspersed with scenes of them apparently going about their working lives. The comedy, which will be broadcast on Afghanistan’s largest commercial television station Tolo TV later this year, features a sleazy manager, a dozy security guard and a man-hating female secretary.

[Continues at Daily Mail]

Television Networks Rewrite History Through Product Placement

JacobSloan — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:45:24 +0000

There sure is a lot of time traveling on television these days. The Consumerist provides an example of the subtly unsettling practice of messing with cinematic/cultural/TV continuity by digitally inserting advertisements from the present into old shows and movies. Just wait until they start slipping “Zookeeper” billboards into footage of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech or Nazi stadium rallies:

For the past few years, networks have been digitally inserting ads and product placements for new products into old reruns. Shannon just noticed one in a rerun of a 2007 episode of “How I Met Your Mother.” In the background on the shelf is a magazine with an ad on the back for the new “Zookeeper” starring Kevin James.

Viva Science Fiction! (and ’80s TV)

LordSatan — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:03:24 +0000

Does Watching TV Lead To Obesity?

majestic — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:17:55 +0000

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests there’s a causal link between watching junk food commercials on television and obesity. Alice Park reports for Time:

How much TV do your kids watch? If you don’t know, you might want to find out, say experts, since the time children spend in front of a TV or computer screen can have a profound effect on their physical and developmental health.

In a new policy statement on the role of media on obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Council on Communications and Media warns parents that TV watching doesn’t just make children more sedentary, but also influences their eating habits, which in turn has consequences for their health. In other words, it’s not just that TV watching encourages youngsters to be less physically active, but it also exposes them to food advertisements that contribute to develop poor eating habits that can set kids up for health problems as adults.

“We created a perfect storm between media use, junk and fast food advertising, and physical inactivity,” says Dr. Victor Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and member of the AAP’s Council. “We created a situation where we now have more overweight and obese adults in the U.S, than underweight and normal weight adults; it’s become an urgent public health problem.”

The policy statement highlights the fact that the harms of TV viewing go beyond promoting inactivity. More studies have shown that children who spend more time in front of the tube are more likely to eat higher-calorie foods, drink sugared sodas and grow up to be overweight adults. In a U.K. study that followed children over 30 years into adulthood, for every additional hour of TV youngsters watched on weekends at age five, their risk of being obese as adults rose by 7%. And in some cases, it doesn’t even take that long for the extra pounds to accumulate: a Japanese study found that children who watched more TV at age three were more likely to be overweight at age six…

Tea Party TV

majestic — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:17:06 +0000

Can’t get enough of the Tea Party? No problem, they’re making a TV series. Paul Bond reports for the Hollywood Reporter:

Those who belong to the conservative movement known as the Tea Party are acutely aware of the power of popular culture, so they have been cautiously delving into the creation of entertainment that promotes their values. It usually manifests itself in snippets of online political parody. Coming Sunday, though, is perhaps the most ambitious effort yet: A “TV show” created by a couple of Tea Partiers who have formed their own production company.

The one-hour drama is called Courage, New Hampshire, and it premiers Sunday at a movie theater in Monrovia, Calif. Co-hosting the red carpet activities are Saturday Night Live alumna Victoria Jackson and radio personality Tony Katz, both of whom regularly speak at Tea Party rallies.

Courage has the pacing and feel of a soap opera, though its set in Colonial America. While its creators are making it as a TV show, there’s no distribution partner, so it’s going straight to DVD after the premiere. The company, Colony Bay, is also trying to strike deals with conservative online TV outlets, like Glenn Beck’s GBTV and Kelsey Grammer’s Right Network, and are seeking a television VOD partner…

[continues in the Hollywood Reporter]

BBC Scotland Shows You Hitler’s Weather Forecast and a Strange Looking Rudolf Hess (Video)

bluemana — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 04:56:10 +0000

Disinfo.com site note: New video link, thanks to commenters below.

Whoa, What Did This News Anchor Just Say? (Video)

bluemana — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:42:06 +0000

French Media Ban The Mention Of Specific Social Networks On Air

Pelliciari — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:42:39 +0000

In an attempt to reduce the amount of ‘free publicity’ given to social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, the French have banned any mention of specific sites in their TV and radio broadcasts. One of the reasons for this ban is to allow a fair platform for smaller networking companies in the future. BBC News reports:

French TV and radio presenters have been banned from mentioning social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter on air.

The country’s broadcasting watchdog has ruled that doing so would break guidelines on advertising.

Stations can still talk about services without naming them, it said.

The French government is seen by many internet watchers as overly keen to regulate in relation to new media and the web.

In a ruling, published online, the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), said: “Referring viewers or listeners to the page of the social network without mentioning it has the character of information.

[Continues at BBC News]

Andy Griffith Vs. The Patriot Act (Video)

ralph — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:09:20 +0000

Ownership of TV Sets Falls in the United States For First Time in 20 Years

HAL9000 — Thu, 05 May 2011 01:28:06 +0000

Good news? Brian Stelter writes in the New York Times:

For the first time in 20 years, the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped.

The Nielsen Company, which takes TV set ownership into account when it produces ratings, will tell television networks and advertisers on Tuesday that 96.7 percent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 percent previously.

There are two reasons for the decline, according to Nielsen. One is poverty: some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital sets and antennas.

The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.

The Saga of Captain Midnight: ‘No Regrets’ About Jamming HBO 25 Years Ago (Video)

HAL9000 — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:14:45 +0000

Paul McNamara writes in Network World’s BuzzBlog:

John MacDougall, then 25, was the lonely pamphleteer of lore, only instead of paper and ink he was armed with a 30-foot transmission dish, an electronic keyboard, and a burning objection to HBO’s decision in 1986 to begin scrambling its satellite signal and charging viewers $12.95 a month.

That move and price had offended MacDougall’s sense of fair play — and all but halted the sales being generated by his fledgling satellite dish business in Ocala, Fla. So at 12:32 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, he transformed himself into Captain Midnight by commandeering HBO’s satellite transmission signal – interrupting a showing of The Falcon and the Snowman — and putting in its place the above protest message that aired for four-and-a-half minutes.

The stunt touched off a nationwide manhunt by law enforcement to unmask Captain Midnight and a media circus that has MacDougall’s head spinning to this day. He would be caught, plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and receive a wrist slap of probation and a $5,000 fine.

Conan O’Brien Unveils The New ‘Nicolas Cage’ Terror Alert System (Video)

ralph — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:21:30 +0000

Man, yes, that Wicker Man remake was a crime against nature.

Richard Gage Explains 9/11 Truth On Fox 2 Detroit

majestic — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:19:00 +0000

Richard Gage, the architect at the forefront of the activist group Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth, is given some rare mainstream TV airtime, garnering an interview with Detroit’s FOX 2. Somewhat surprisingly, anchor Huel Perkins actually lets him talk at some length: