(Regarding the headline: I knew I had heard the phrase “Paris is burning” somewhere. Thanks, Google.)
Mika Brzezinski: I love you.
The winner of Unjournalism’s first You Kick More Ass Than I Ever Thought You Could award goes to Ms. Brzezinski for her bold efforts to tell her Paris Hilton-obsessed producer to shove it — or, well…burn it.
Brandweek has an interview with Michael Moore in which he claims he’s not worried about the leak of his new movie, “Sicko,” on to the Web. As long as people see it and talk about it, he’s happy.
First of all, good for him. That’s an idea that I can completely understand. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I were a content creator — musician, filmmaker, writer — with the potential to make a living off of the work, but at least in principle, I like where his head’s at.
But the article also talks about:
Sicko is available on a number of P2P sites for free download. One site, thepiratebay.org, lists at least roughly 2,000 downloads of the flick, and the Web site p2pnet.net, which tracks torrents, or P2P downloads, writes that the movie “is already thoroughly entrenched on the p2p networks.”
Enough about principles; let’s try reality on this one. How much of an impact is this really going to make? Are the people that will see and talk about Moore’s health-care business documentary the same early-adopter bit-torrent-downloading geeks who will download this and watch it for free? I’m going with “no” there, and least in about 99.9 percent of the cases.
Seriously, I’m sure his production company is all sorts of pissed off, but I’d bet the publicity resulting from the leak will bring more money than the leak itself will cost. I know of no way to prove it, so just believe me.
To those who make the blanket statement that bloggers aren’t journalists, look again at Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch. This is journalism.
Mike gives his site original, thoughtful reporting and often breaks big tech news — leaving the Wall Street Journal and other majors in the dust. Not all blogs are of this caliber, but then again, neither are all “journalists,” I suppose.
Copyright © 2008 Unjournalism. Content by Mike Keliher.
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