edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

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Traditional media vs. online

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"An even greater challenge to both newspapers and broadcast networks is the growing power of the internet as a news distribution platform," reads an online summary for News War, a four-hour PBS Frontline special examining the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today.

Jeff Fager, executive producer of 60 Minutes, says "we haven't seen the model for how broadcast journalism is going to end up on the Internet, but it has to go there. I mean, you don't see anybody between 20 and 30 getting their news from the evening news; you see them getting it online."

An even more seminal quote comes from Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, one of the country's most popular blogs and a reportedly receiver of 3 to 5 million visitors per week. "People want to be part of the media," Moulitsas tells Frontline. "They don't want to sit there and listen anymore. They're too educated. They're taught...to be go-getters and not to sit back and be passive consumers. And the traditional media is still predicated on the passive consumer model -- you sit there and watch."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 28, 2007 at 12:01 PM

comment #1

T. S. Idiot says ...

Has anyone under thirty watched the evening news since the fifties? Except for events like 9/11, is anything more irrelevant than television news?

Posted by T. S. Idiot at February 28, 2007 12:28 PM

comment #2

cjKennedy says ...

Screw the online summary. Watch the whole show. It was quite excellent. It talks about all the different forces that have led to an overall degradation of actual 'news'.

Posted by cjKennedy at February 28, 2007 12:47 PM

comment #3

Rich S. says ...

James Brooks had it pegged 20 years ago in Broadcast News. When the networks started to blur the line between actual journalism and "infotainment", they took a step on a slippery slope from which they've never recovered. Now they have to face the fact that the product they're selling is neither fish nor fowl, and no one wants to buy it.

Posted by Rich S. at February 28, 2007 12:55 PM

comment #4

Hallick says ...

"They don't want to sit there and listen anymore. They're too educated. They're taught...to be go-getters and not to sit back and be passive consumers. And the traditional media is still predicated on the passive consumer model -- you sit there and watch."

As opposed to what? When a TV show I like is on, I sit there and watch; when I go out to the movies, I sit there and watch; when somebody wraps their car around a tree and I'm stuck in traffic nearby, unless I can help in some way, I SIT there and WATCH.

Not everything on the face of the planet demands some kind of ADD-ridden, type-A, interactive hyper-involvement. Even if you threw everything journalistic on the internet, guess what that involves? SITTING THERE AND WATCHING. Because sitting there and watching is also known as paying attention and listening while, hopefully for most people, thinking at the same time.

"Go-getters"...the ones who talk on their cell phones or text their friends during an entire movie because they can't sit there and watch anything longer than a YouTube clip.

Posted by Hallick at February 28, 2007 01:47 PM

comment #5

bipedalist says ...

Thanks to Oscarwatch for the link.

Posted by bipedalist at February 28, 2007 02:06 PM

comment #6

christian says ...

markos is a moron and has said any number of stupid things. but he's typical of the ADD generation.

that said, you have to go online (or to the bbc) to get the news because the so called "liberal" media has turned into what NETWORK warned against: entertainment designed to keep the populace ignorant and the corporations in power.

Posted by christian at February 28, 2007 03:13 PM

comment #7

cjKennedy says ...

The internet is great and all, but one of the problems Frontline brings up is that most of the actual news online still comes from newspaper journalism. The problem is that while continuing to rely on old media for the reporting, the internet is destroying the economic model these outlets use to support themselves.

And as Christian points out, journalism is being eroded from the corporate end as well. The shareholder's needs for short term profit and long term growth doesn't mix with the investigation and reporting of actual news. TV networks used to have to provide news not to make money, but as a service to the public in exchange for the free use of the public airwaves. Now they've realized if they pass off gossip and fear as news, they can have their cake and eat it to. What we get is more Anna Nicole Smith and less actual reporting of the world around us. Whether liberal or conservative, the public loses. It's getting what it wants in exchange for what it needs.

Posted by cjKennedy at February 28, 2007 03:39 PM

comment #8

bipedalist says ...

Insightful commentary. It is a bit frightening. One thing I love about Frontline (my favorite show) is that it says, here's a big pile of shit. I don't know what to do with but here it is. When many of the loudmouths on the web brag about how old media is dying they ought to take a step back and realize that is one of the worst thing that could ever happen. The only thing that gives me hope is that smart people will continue to demand real news.

Watched, as was mentioned above, the prophetic Broadcast News recently. Though the internet hadn't yet altered the face of things, Brooks nailed so much of it ("Dad, I think I might be able to do this job!")

Shit came down heavy after 9/11 - in fact, part one of that Frontline series deals with the Bush admin's chokehold on information after 9/11 and through to today. Then they talked about the importance of anonymous sources.

What was interesting most to me about the third installment, the one involving non-traditional ways to get news, was that the internet gives the people a voice. Yes, they recycle news from real journalists, but they also continue to demand the news. Won't that keep the journalists employed?

What is threatened is this idea that "anybody can do it." Anybody CAN do it. But if you notice, the shift just in this tiny little cluster of entertainment sites might be - slanted news. Movie City News, Hollywood-Elsewhere - they can't replace real news; they comment on real news.

Anyway, it's interesting.

Posted by bipedalist at February 28, 2007 05:17 PM

comment #9

cjKennedy says ...

The third episode was careful not to be overly critical of the internet pointing out that it's brilliant at taking hold of a story and keeping it alive using the Trent Lott, Dan Rather and Mark Foley episodes as examples.

I like to hope they'll get the economics figured out and the internet will simply make journalism more powerful than it's ever been. Perhaps there will be some kind of melding of the old media and the new.

Posted by cjKennedy at February 28, 2007 09:55 PM

comment #10