Over here at Idiot Box, we have a good example of how piss-poor our paper of record’s “coverage” of the writers strike has been (not that anyone else around town has been much better). As the introduction to his list of the best television shows of the year, Peter Carlin manages to dismiss all of Hollywood as one monolithic entity with completely homogenous motivations.
At which point we could think only of our darkest suspicions about the American TV industry, and muse on how they had all come true. That entertainment - to say nothing of art - means nothing to them. That they are businessmen first and artists never. That the entire industry isn’t just morally neutral, but actually corrupt.
That he then goes on to say “not 100 percent of the time” in order to be able to talk about his picks for the best shows is irrelevant.
The reality, of course, is that Hollywood is a business that employs artists. The reality, of course, is that the current situation with the strike is that the people who most certainly do put business first (the moguls) are trying to stiff the people who put the art and craft first (the writers) out of their fair share of the business which wouldn’t even exist without the art and the craft.
What’s happening right now is not a clash between two groups of people who “are businessmen first and artists never”. It’s a clash between one group which is “business first and art never” and one group which is “art first and business when we need to protect our livelihood”.
Do try to remember, boys and girls: When the writers talk about residuals, they aren’t talking about extra money. They’re talking about the other portion of their pay. And as more and more television moves to the Web, the studios are trying to bilk the writers out of the other portion of their pay. It really is that simple. And it really is precisely that clear which side is in the wrong.
But then the paper’s angling on the strike has been anything but nuanced and observant, and generally speaking comes across as petulant kids whose toys have been taken away. They don’t seem to care so much that there might be important and legitimate reasons for it.
They just want their toys back. And for the sake of trying to seem holier than both sides, they’re perfectly content to paint moguls and writers alike with the same brush.
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