THE MEDIACRACY

HOW THE ESTABLISHMENT KEEPS THE MEDIA IN THE STABLE

[Up to ten percent of the members of the Council on Foreign Relations
have also been members of the "objective" press. Some 400 reporters got
in bed with the CIA during the Cold War. Top media names regularly
attend the notorious Bilderberg conferences. Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria
helped the Bush administration plan its Middle East policy at an early
meeting called by Paul Wolfowitz. And on it goes. . .]

MICHAEL CALDERONE, NY OBSERVER - For media figures who have previously
made the climb to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, a new
peak beckons: In planning the January 2007 edition of the event, Davos
organizers are quietly passing around a list of prospective members of
an even loftier sub-organization, to be known as the International Media
Council. Start polishing up those crampons, David Remnick. The New
Yorker editor joins Fareed Zakaria, Graydon Carter and other name-brand
media figures on the draft, which runs to more than 100 names. "It's
kind of like a list of who we think would be wonderful," W.E.F.
spokeswoman Claudia Gonzalez said. . .

The W.E.F. already has a few other separate "communities," like the
International Business Council (the C.E.O.'s of Mittal Steel and Chevron
are members); the Arab Business Council; and the Young Global Leaders
(which includes young university professors, elected officials and
high-powered executives).

"They told me that they wanted to create something like it," said Mr.
Zakaria, the Newsweek International editor and multi-year Davos veteran,
about the proposed council. "That's the extent of my knowledge. They
have had groups like that in the past. I think they used to have a group
grandiosely called the Club of Media Leaders."

Arianna Huffington - who knows from critical-mass assemblies of
celebrity - is also on the wish list, though she said she did not help
to write it and doesn't know what other names are on it. The Huffington
Post founder is already planning to show up at the regular Davos
conference next year, to take part in a panel on new media. . .

But there's still room at the top for the old media, too. Among the
prospective council members are Time managing editor Richard Stengel and
Financial Times editor Lionel Barber, along with plenty of famous
bylines: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, New Yorker writers Ken
Auletta and Seymour Hersh, and Washington Post (and Simon & Schuster)
debriefer-of-the-mighty Bob Woodward. . .

Ms. Dowd, through a spokesperson, said she wasn't aware of this list,
and only attended the W.E.F. when it was held in New York City, in 2002.
Fellow Timesman Tom Friedman said through a representative that he
hadn't been contacted, either.

Representing television is CBS's Katie Couric, alone among current
network news anchors (NBC's anchor emeritus, Tom Brokaw, is also on the
wish list). Joining Ms. Couric are PBS's Charlie Rose, CNN's Christiane
Amanpour and CNBC's "Money Honey," Maria Bartiromo. Behind the faces, TV
executives included CNN International managing director Chris Cramer,
Al-Arabiya general manager Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, and Al Jazeera
managing director general Wadah Khanfar. . .

http://www.observer.com/20061106/20061106_Michael_Calderone_media_offtherecord.asp

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

PEOPLE DON'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO WATCH TV STORIES

BILL CARTER, NY TIMES - In every television season some new lesson
about the American audience is imparted. This season's lesson was clear
within the first weeks of the fall: you can ask people to commit only so
many hours to intense, dark, intricately constructed serialized dramas,
to sign huge chunks of their lives away to follow every minuscule plot
development and character tic both on the air and on Internet sites
crowded with similarly addicted fanatics Ask for more and you will get
what happened to every network this fall. "The Nine" got low numbers.
"Vanished" was banished. "Kidnapped" went unransomed. "Smith" was
swift-kicked. "Runaway" sounded like a command.

"The message we received was that people have strains on their lives,"
said Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment. "People are
saying, 'I've got my handful of shows like this, and I don't want
more.'". . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/arts/television/29cart.html?ref=arts

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||