BuzzMachine
by Jeff Jarvis

November 18, 2004

More Stern

: Mel Karmazin is the new CEO of Sirius, landing there with main man Howard. index of pwl tools

: Fred Wilson's take here. Mine later. index of pwl tools

Howard in orbit

: Curbed has coverage of Howard Stern handing out Sirius radios in Union Square today. I happened by afterwards. There's little sadder in the world than the leftovers of a Stern crowd. index of pwl tools

It's (not) beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

: Our South Orange blogger at NJ.com writes about the school's decision to ban music that could be considered religious in any form. My church's choir director (who suffers my bad bass) used to be the choir director there and the truth is that thanks to decisions like this all across America, churches are getting the use of music that schools can't ever think of singing again. index of pwl tools

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

: So I'm thinking about buying a big, honking flat-screen TV so I can corrupt my morals yet more. Was debating between LCD and Plasma. David Pogue in The Times says go for the LCD. What do you say?index of pwl tools

So sorry

: We're in a sorry state of forever saying we're sorry. And I'm sick of it. index of pwl tools

Alessandra Stanley in the NY Times today is sick of the sorrys on TV: sorry for the Desperate Housewives promo, sorry for cutting off CSI, sorry for Janet Jackson, sorry for bad words in Saving Private Ryan. Enough. index of pwl tools

Mark Cuban says saying sorry should be the new business model: TV is making money out of apologizing... and getting tons of attention for it. index of pwl tools

What we should be doing is turning to the people who expect us to say sorry -- the prigs and prudes and religious nutjobs and Michael Powell -- and say: Sorry for what? Huh? I'm sorry you don't like what I like; I'm sorry I'm not sorry; but I'm not. index of pwl tools

Is anybody a journalist?

: In a word: yes. Anybody can witness and report and now publish news.index of pwl tools

LawDork responds to this question on last nights' West Wing (which, unfortunately, I couldn't see). See this post on the show and then this post that uses my little FCC FOIA expose to prove the point. See also this quote on the topic from Glenn Reynolds yesterday. index of pwl tools

And see today's NY Times on Kevin Sites in Iraq -- keeping silent on the video he shot of a soldier shooting an Iraqi -- that ends with this:

His Web site describes Mr. Sites as a "pioneering, multimedia journalist" who has worked in Afghanistan, Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East....index of pwl tools

Mr. Sites has worked for several networks and has a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, according to the site.

Thus The Times blesses his credentials. But he'd be a journalist without them. He's the guy who shot the video that is news.index of pwl tools

cnntwoshot.jpg

Off the air

: On Aaron Brown's show tonight, they had to pair me up with somebody from the Heritage Foundation who -- oddly for a conservative! -- wants more government regulation, interference, and bureacracy ... when it comes to regulating her definition of morality, that is. She wants more FCC regulation. I say the FCC has no business regulating our speech; it's just plain unconstitutional.index of pwl tools

Aaron did a good job balancing, but I also told him that it was a bogus assumption, which he read earlier in the segment, to say that America was "outraged" at the Desperate Housewives promo. That's what they said when Married by America got fined $1.2 million based on the work of three prigs who wrote letters and 20 who Xeroxed them. Outraged? No. It's time that we challenge these assumptions, made and spread in media. To say that and to show the Housewives promo 25 times tonight is sensationalism, I said. index of pwl tools

Aaron tried to agree with the woman that the culture is too coarse. To his surprise, I said, no, it's our culture and we all have values and we all have taste and I won't insult the American public by generalizing that we're all coarse. index of pwl tools

Two soundbites:index of pwl tools

: I go to church every Sunday and I listen to Howard Stern every day and that is not incompatible.index of pwl tools

: When the lady went on about what offends her, I said that the homophobia on the 700 Club offends me, but I don't suggest it should be taken off the air or fined by the government. I change the channel. Pick up the remote, I said. index of pwl tools

When I got out, I had email on my Treo from some church lady named Sherry using her work email at Lilly.com (tsk, tsk) with this charming bit of evangelism:

You have no morals and I feel you are pathetic.
Mighty Christian of you, Sherry. And here's another one:
I submit to you that you lack moral values and you church attendance proves nothing.
Mighty grammatical of you, Josh.index of pwl tools

But I also got some nice emails from Canadians. And Jeremy Brown did me the favor of capturing the picture above. Caption away. But be nice....index of pwl tools

: UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds says:

I saw the commercial for the first time in that broadcast, and I have to say that it was an absolute disgrace, and that it should not have been allowed to air. It didn't show nearly enough of Nicolette Sheridan to justify all the hoopla, and that's a tragedy because, despite her perhaps overdone plastic surgery, she's still hot.
He says much more. As he would tell you, go read the whole thing. index of pwl tools
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