Writers Strike! Film At Eleven!

Howard "The Horror, The Horror" Kurtz had Michael "I Know Why The Caged Bear Has Sex" Medved, WIMN's Jennifer "I Don't Have A Clever Nick For Her Because She'd Kill Me" Pozner, and some "Dude I've Never Heard Of In My Life" on Reliable Sources  the other day to talk about a buncha stuff, including the writers' strike.  Now I'm not a media crit guy--that's Jen's and Atrios' bag--and I don't even get TV any more so am thankfully spared the tripe that is spiraling down past mediocrity into shitocrity, but I know that these are still channels of information transfer that make an impact so I do try to pay attention a bit.

Actually, the only way I hear about the various controversies, frames and such are via blogs and YouTube, which is why this particular thing Jen observed caught my eye:

The last time that the Writers Guild had an agreement, we didn’t have DVDs. We didn’t have the Internet. We didn’t have any of the new technology and distribution systems.

While I don't receive TV signal from the airwaves and canceled my satellite service years ago, I do in effect "get" TV (making me a liar in my opening graf).  Whether it be through YouTubes that violate copyright, or iTunes downloads, or DVDs people buy me off my Wishlist (hinthint), I do see a variety of things these strikers have written.  While I've always been an advocate of allowing consumers use their purchases any way they see fit (e.g., in Paxcast, I still have an implicit goal of gleefully violating copyright law though I view it as repurposing and mashing up), I recognize that every new distribution channel means more potential revenue that should be shared with all those involved in the creative effort.

So I'm extremely sympathetic toward the writers, and am glad to see other parts of the industry show solidarity with them.

This actually came up in my TCP/IP class on Tuesday.  I was covering Web2.0 and to start the discussion I had my students break into small groups to spend 5 minutes brainstorming a list of "sources" and "sinks" from the 60s to the 21st century.    They showed great insights similar to what Jen said, so we talked about how business models and labor arrangements need to change as technology changes, and we got into disruptive innovations and other related things before we came anywhere near blogs, wikis and podcasts.

Of course all this is part and parcel of everything Howie "I'm A Totally Unbiased Real Journalist" Kurtz and Michael "Ewwwback Mountain" Medved and their corporate overlords hate about Web2.0: they lose control.  They lose control of narrative.  They lose control of distribution.  They lose control of the consumer.

They're all trying desperately to hold onto the levers of power (media and government), destroy labor (writers and artists) and keep consumers in thrall (you must buy to be happy and only buy from us at prices we dictate though we pretend it's the free market).  Unfortunately for them, the technology that potentially gives them more channels of control also gives us more channels for rebellion.  The same intertubes they want to use to sell us more content (while not giving money to the people who create it) can be used to liberate the content.

I'm not just using "liberate" as a euphemism for "steal."  Sure the end users can share content in ways that don't reward the creators, but disintermediation also can foster a better relationship with the creators and their fans.  Even if individual YouTubes aren't going to take over the entertainment space (though it's funny how some catch on virally and make it back into mainstream channels), with all the digital enabling technology available writers and musicians and everybody can break away from studios because their marketing and distribution advantages have evaporated.

Now THAT'S Reality TV.

ntodd