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Here's some radio commentary on the subjet matter. I heard it the other day on Public Radio International. An interesting read and somewhat related...

Luckily there are new Best-Seller lists that are purely based on sales. Apperently, New York Times and other lists would make "editorial" changes to lower the rankings of fantasy and sci-fi books.

Well, actually maybe that isn't good after all...

They used a program called Reamweaver which is designed to "instantly 'funhouse-mirror' anyone's website, copying the real-time "look and feel" but letting you change any words, images, etc. that you choose."

There was a story about it on NPR's "On the Media".

Pornography tends to popularize hitherto rare, esoteric, or expensive bits of communications technology. It subsidizes the industry.

For example, the first prerecorded videotape was pornographic. 8mm film technology took off with the widespread availabilty of stag films

NPR's "On the Media" did a report on this "documentary". Summary: Moorse plays fast and loose with the facts.Check here in the "More Accurately" section.

Also, this site has a LOOOONG list of inaccuracies in the "documentary".

Just for accuracies sake.

-bk

After much thinking and weighing the benefits, I decided I was better off spending ten dollars a month supporting my local public radio station, WNYC. My music needs are minimal, I get the BBC and Radio France International off the Internet as well as from local radio (WNYC broadcasts the BBC during early morning hours, and a station owned by the board of education broadcasts RFI), and so there's just not much room in my life for subscription-based digital radio.

Commercial radio: Covers its budget and makes profit by ensuring that x number of people are tuned in at any given point during the day. This way, discrete ad units can be sold on that assumption that those x number of people will be listening... and eventually buying. The best way to maintain that number is by providing content unlikely to offend the demographic -- something that a listener may not really love, but certainly doesn't dislike enough to turn off. As a result, any discernable flavor is slowly leeched from the on-air content and you're left with Farina Cream of Wheat.

Public radio: Covers its budget through corporate underwriting and getting a certain number of people to contribute during fund drives. As long as this happens, it's mostly irrelevant how many people are listening at any given time. Over the years, the stations have found that one of the best ways to do this is through niche marketing -- even if people only listen to one or two programs a week, they'll likely become contributors if they truly value those shows. (Same thing works on cable. Tons of my friends only have HBO for "Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under".) Hence, the proliferation of such niche programs as Car Talk, The Splendid Table, or (God help me) Satellite Sisters. These multiple viewppoints prove profitable, so they remain a part of public radio. But don't get me wrong, public radio is still capable of selling out just as much as the next station on the dial. (Just check out savewnyc.org for one example of how things can turn ugly.) It just tends to remain more interesting while doing so.

Public radio is the most biased medium in existence

Exaggerate much?

OT, but while we're discuccing the legality of parody, Studio 360 on NPR recently did a piece about fandom. It spotlights Anne McCaffery's crusade against fan fiction. Hear it here. They point out the irony that from-the-heart tributes are illegal while mocking parodies are just fine.

I've never quite trusted film marketers-- but these are outright lies, and might interest the FTC.

On an interesting sidenote: it seems that the film revenues for "R rated" films have gone down ever since the movie industry started "enforcing" their ratings. It used to be, of course, that "Rated R" was a draw for certain types of violent films, but now the MPAA has "learned" that such restrictive ratings tend to reduce profits. I'm not sure who to support. (I believed that a trademarked "NC-17" rating might free the artistic impulses of directors--but I guess marketing considerations will probably doom us all to kiddie safe films. sniff)

With a few corporations owning majority control over the major-market radio stations in the US, they're all the same anyway. I can't tell the difference between a "classic rock" station in Boston, Chicago, or anywhere else.

Public radio and noncommercial radio are not affected; some of my favorites on the web:

WZBC-FM Boston College Radio
WNYC-AM National Public Radio - Windows Media Player, sorry.