This afternoon while I was writing some emails and drafts of some future blog posts that you'll soon be seeing here, I received the Breaking News about Disney's purchase of Lucsafilms via an email from Sharon Waxman'sTheWrap, our daily entertainment must-read. A few minutes later I listened to the entire conference call and heard analysts try to alternately pry and parry some good intel out of Jay Rasulo, Disney's CFO, that he didn't want to share, particularly as it involves valuation.
Much of the video above spoken by Disney CEO Robert Iger, better known to some of you as the husband of TV news personality Willow Bay, was later heard in the conference call that I listened to in its entirety. You can listen to the entire conference call here: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/c2nj5j33/lan/en%20%20 In particular, they didn't want to talk in much detail about what the story is with Fox's distribution contract for prior Star Wars films and Paramount's deal for the Indiana Jones films. As you listen, while you probably have already heard the big news that a new Star Wars film is slated for release in 2015, Episode 7, make sure you don't sleep on the news that Disney wants to bring Star Wars and its huge cast of characters and narratives to TV in some new fashion, geared towards kids, and to amusement parks. TheWrap WaxWord blog Will the Force Be With Disney’s $4B 'Star Wars' Gamble? By Sharon Waxman Published: October 30, 2012 @ 7:58 pm
In buying Lucasfilm for a stunning $4.05 billion on Tuesday, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has made yet another bold gamble for the future of his media company, betting on a beloved but dusty franchise in need of a radical reimagining for a new generation.
starwars YouTube Channel: George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy discuss the future of Star Wars movies at Disney. Uploaded October 30, 2012. http://youtu.be/YyqlTi7lkhY
Wall Street Journal: Disney's ABC, Univision May Launch News-Channel. February 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/pfOnlXlV8lA
Coming this Fall: A 24/7 News Channel from Univision & ABC News -in English! Marriage of news & advertising convenience, necessity or desperation? And will it be hard news or soft?; Brazil abstains
Naturally, as has been described here on the blog many times previously, given the rapturous and over-the-top way the Miami Heraldhas traditionally chosen to greet almost any quasi-news story that involved either Spanish-language marketing, advertising or television, always emphasizing the froth with lots of positive quotes from the people who stand to profit the most, in what is, essentially, a consumer transaction that involves selling soap to someone, possibly with a tilde, but never really looking hard at whether or not what is being offered is actually quality or not, I can hardly wait for the coming Herald article on this new way of trying to sell more advertising.
I hereby predict that the Herald reporter, whomever it is, will say that that this move may well be "Revolutionary." Or genius. Or overdue. Or a guaranteed hit even before it hits the air.
We all know how the Herald gets when they have a brand-new shiny toy to talk about that has something to do with Latin America and marketing, witness their recent spate of pro-Brazil articles and editorials the past year.
Who can count the number of pieces they've done on the theme of visiting Brazilians make-the-world-go-around in Miami, which, given where we are and the current sad state of serious news coverage in local Miami TV stations, quite naturally copied the theme like nobody's business.
But when President Obama was leaving for Brazil last year, despite all the news coverage nationally in print and on TV about what the U.S. and the West wanted to do at the U.N. with regard to sanctions or counter-moves to the killings and repression in Syria, the Miami HeraldNEVER wrote a single thing in the newspaper or online about Brazil abstainingfrom voting on the matter, did they? Nope, and I was looking, too.
I checked not only the online archives but scrupulously checked the newspaper -everyday. Before, during and after his trip.
The Herald said nothing even while writing about how important Brazil was asserting itself... blah, blah. But when push came to shove, Brazil ducked. That's many things, but what it's NOT is leadership. Or positive.
For a country like Brazil that's forever talking so much about wanting to be taken seriously on the international scene, it hardly gets more transparent about what you really want to do than abstaining from an important vote at the U.N, does it? Of perhaps having to vote against China and Russia. So they did nothing.
Today's New York Times tells the tale of what that indifference has wrought months later:
In Turkey, once a strong supporter of Mr. Assad and now one of his most vocal critics, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Parliament that the veto of the United Nations resolution on Syria by Russia and China had given Mr. Assad a “license to kill,”
The only thing missing in this and so many other news articles the past about all the people who have been maimed or killed is a note that reads "Thanks Brazil" from President Assad.
So why the South Florida news media refusal to report the facts about the Brazil abstentions on Libya and Syria, and their logical consequences? Good question.
But not for me, for the Herald and the rest of the South Florida news media that far too often seems content to lets its own advertising bottom line dictate what actually gets covered or mentioned on-air on in print.
No, unfortunately, as I've said here before many times, the South Florida news media, and the Herald in particular, simply can't say enough good things about Latin America, whether its countries, its consumers or its markets, when there's money to be made, but rather curiously, they and their reporters only seem to seek out people for the article who will say good things. Or who will directly or indirectly profit from it.
Where's the objective balance to the stories? Where's the follow-up and perspective?
No, THAT won't come until months later. Then, they may run an AP story that they post online, but which you never see in the newspaper itself.
No doubt we'll see that over-the-top story in the Herald soon, and I can already guess whom they will interview from their small list of Usual Suspects to say how great this is for everyone. No, not really, mostly just some of the advertising folks who want to sell air time for Barack Obama political commercials. -----
