Re: Ken Burns on Charlie Rose

From: Leslie N. Shill (icehouse@redshift.com)
Date: Wed Jan 10 2001 - 04:26:39 CET

  • Next message: Juan Araya: "PBS's Jazz Series"

    No, I think you have it wrong, if you don't mind my saying so, what you are
    seeing is the result of the gutting of any sort of budgets that helped keep
    non-profit broadcasting without having to see the intrusion of corporate
    America. This is precisely what was intended to happen once the budget of
    CPB was cut! This is one of the few first world countries that seems
    a d a m EMAIL souljazzantly opposed to supporting it's own cultural heritage, despite the fact
    that it can well afford it, hell! orgs like the NRA are better funded than
    many cultural orgs could ever hope to be. What you are seeing is just the
    beginning of the corporatization of the once free and cultural side of
    broadcasting and with the full onset of that, we will see things slanted
    more and more until it all sounds like the corporate icons want it to sound
    within the parameters that are defined by these sponsors. It is, to me at
    least, a crumbling of something great, it will be up to people like us to
    attempt to find ways to extrapolate these elements of the cultural heritage
    and to extend them on a daily basis into people's lives so that they may get
    a glimmer of how important many of these things actually are. In an era
    where the various arms of governments seem more inclined to build more
    prisons than schools, it should not be that surprising. What does alarm me
    is that while so many of the internet newly rich have not tried to support
    what are the underpinnings of their own world and it is only a matter of
    time before we are paying to send each email and our choices on the internet
    start to be dictated to by major corporate interests. It is true, the symbol
    of America is the dollar sign, even the venerable BBC broadcasts here in a
    stilted way to cash in on the focus on coin.

    These signs at the beginning and the end of programs like this are merely
    the first signposts on the road to a stark cultural environment. It's yet
    another reason why lists like this one are so vital, to keep at least some
    of the balls in the air just not mine! (pardon this crudity, I could not
    resist!). Ken Burns has ahd to assembel something that must have had many
    considerations budget wise, from licensing to many other facets, only the
    corporations can now afford to support these sorts of activities and they
    will only do it if there is a clearly definable and visible benefit, like
    getting the minutes at the beginning and the end of the show!

    GEEZ - indeed!

    leslie/The Power of Sound/www.kazu.org/Tues, Wed, Thurs 8-10 PST

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: R. Scott <framboise@mindspring.com>
    To: Steve Catanzaro <stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com>; Nathaniel Rahav
    <nat@rhythmlove.com>; <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 5:59 PM
    Subject: Re: Ken Burns on Charlie Rose

    > Here's an excellent point. I sat waiting for the thing to start and had to
    > wait 10 minutes because of corporate advertising. And the commercial for
    the
    > "product" at the end......geez!
    >
    > The symbol of America is a dollar sign.
    >
    > peace,
    > R. Scott
    > framboise@mindspring.com
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: "Steve Catanzaro" <stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com>
    > To: "Nathaniel Rahav" <nat@rhythmlove.com>; <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    > Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 12:34 PM
    > Subject: Re: Ken Burns on Charlie Rose
    >
    >
    > > Nat wrote;
    > >
    > > The whole thing is definitely a labor of love and not a commercial
    > venture,
    > > > which immediately increases its credibility thousandfold.
    > > >
    > >
    > > Don't kid yourself! I have never seen so much ancillary packaging for a
    > PBS
    > > production. Videos, DVD's, Books, CD's.... and check out the gigantic GM
    > > spots. "Public" broadcasting? Kind of laughable.
    > >
    > > Burns may be passionate, but he'll probably make more money off of this
    > one
    > > thing than Art Tatum made in his whole career....
    > >
    >



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Jan 10 2001 - 04:57:59 CET