My Two Cents

Daily_Ads.indd 1 5/13/11 12:22 PM Daily_Ads.indd 2 5/11/11 11:32 AM My Two Cents MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 FAX: (212) 288-3424 VIDEO AGE WEBSITES: www.videoage.org wonder if, when the big corporate bosses decide to get rid of certain rules and regulations, they www.videoagelatino.com think about what the CIA calls “blowback.” www.videoage.it We commoners know that for every action — be it political, social or industrial — there will P.O. BOX 25282 be a reaction, which, despite any best intentions, is always unpredictable. The question is: Do LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 the corporate elite and their surrogate politicians know about “blowback”? VIALE ABRUZZI 30 The term “blowback” comes from the poisonous gas that the wind pushed back to those who 20123 MILAN, ITALY used it during World War I. I YUKARI MEDIA Even though the unpredictability of any consequences dates back to the political YMI BLDG. 3-3-4, UCHIHIRANOMACHI economist Adam Smith in the 1770s, only in 1936 did the American sociologist Robert CHUO-KU, OSAKA JAPAN K. Merton publish a study called “The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social TEL: (816) 4790-2222 Action.” The book gave light to all kinds of analysis, like unintended or unforeseen EDITOR consequences that were the basis for the “rational choice theory” movement, which was DOM SERAFINI popularized in the 1970s by the politically conservative economist Gary S. Becker, who graduated from and was a professor at the (in)famous Chicago School of Economics. ASSISTANT EDITOR In politics there are many cases of blowback, like in 1953 when the U.S. imposed the ERIN SOMERS Shah’s rule in Iran to avoid the nationalization of oil, it laid the foundation for the fundamentalist Islam that took power 26 EDITORIAL ASSISTANT years later. SARA ALESSI But, the major cases of blowback occur in finance, industry and the service sectors. In our industry, for example, when U.S. EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS broadcasters celebrated in the Hamptons the elimination of the fin syn rule, little did they know that Hollywood was plotting LUCY COHEN BLATTER their demise. ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) When the oil industry pushed for the weakening of regulations, the BP disaster occurred. According to several reports, the LORENA SANCHEZ (ARGENTINA) principle cause of the U.S. Gulf Coast oil spill (the biggest environmental disaster in American history) points blame at lax CARLOS GUROVICH oversight by MMS, the now defunct government LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER agency in charge of regulating offshore drilling. BOB JENKINS (U.K.) AKIKO KOBAYACHI (JAPAN) When Wall Street brass opened champagne LEVI SHAPIRO bottles to celebrate the elimination of a SEC DAVID SHORT (AFRICA) regulation, the removal of a banking rule or the MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) demise of an antagonist like former New York prosecutor Eliot Spitzer, little did they care that CORPORATE AND any one of those missing rules would eventually CIRCULATION OFFICE cause the world’s major financial meltdown, like 216 EAST 75TH STREET the one in 2008, and the U.S.’s worst financial NEW YORK, NY 10021 crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. TEL: (212) 288-3933 FAX: (212) 734-9033 When the toy industry spent millions to have Consumer Product Safety (CPS) rules removed, PUBLISHER the sector suffered a massive toy recall of lead- MONICA GORGHETTO tainted products in 2008. The damage was so BUSINESS OFFICE great that, subsequently, the toy industry pushed LEN FINKEL for more regulations and blamed regulators for not LEGAL OFFICE being vigilant. The CPS defended itself by blaming ROBERT ACKERMANN President George W. Bush’s administration for STEVE SCHIFFMAN cutting funds, which, before 2008, reduced the agency to just 15 inspectors and only one employee WEB MANAGER to conduct safety tests on toys. MIKE FAIVRE “No, you’re not paranoid.TKTK Everybody does hate you!” And, do you think politicians learned anything DESIGN/LAYOUT from those mistakes? No way! So, U.S. President CARMINE RASPAOLO Obama’s administration is now proposing to cut ILLUSTRATIONS FAA funding, thus reducing airline’s safety inspectors and delaying modernization of the U.S. air traffic system. This is to satisfy BOB SHOCHET the airline industry that wants fewer rules regarding pilot fatigue, aircraft maintenance and shipment of dangerous goods. FOUNDED IN 1981 But, do I blame corporate brass for all those disasters? Not completely. Their job is to take market shares from competitors, MEMBER OF NBCA to generate more revenues and to make more profits by cutting costs, and regulations cost money in the short run. Should these (CIRCULATION) bosses avoid blowback? In a certain respect, yes in order to keep consumers’ trust, because losing consumers’ confidence is not VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0278-5013 USPS 601-230) IS good for business. But their main job is to satisfy quarterly reports, not a Politburo’s five-year plans! Are the chemical and food PUBLISHED SEVEN TIMES A YEAR: JANUARY, MARCH/APRIL, MAY, industries’ main concerns with public health? No, their concern is making money, that’s why, according to the Washington Post, JUNE, JULY, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER/DECEMBER. PLUS DAILIES BY TV TRADE MEDIA, INC. SINGLE COPY U.S.$9.75. YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION they want potentially unsafe chemicals in products like baby bottles and food can liners. And this is why, according to Politico, U.S.$45 (U.S., CANADA, MEXICO); U.S.$60 (U.K. AND EUROPE). ExxonMobil wants to block restrictions on an allegedly toxic plastic softener used in toys. © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2011. THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT IN THE U.S., U.K., In my view, the responsibility for man-made disasters lies exclusively with politicians who let special interests finance their AND ALL COUNTRIES SIGNATORY TO THE BERNE CONVENTIO AND THE campaigns or are outright corrupted by a political system that is no longer representative of the people, but of special interests. PAN-AMERICAN CONVENTION. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL, 216 EAST 75TH STREET, SUITE PW, NEW YORK, Therefore, when a disaster occurs, the politicians who voted to remove rules and regulations should pay the damages. NY 10021, U.S.A. PURSUANT TO THE U.S. COPYRIGHTS ACT OF 1976, THE RIGHTS OF ALL Dom Serafini CONTENT DONE ON ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL VIDEOAGE PUBLICATIONS ARE HELD BY THE PUBLISHER OF VIDEOAGE, WHICH COMMISSIONED THEM. 3 M AY 2011 VIDEO • AGE Page3_My2Cents.indd Sec1:3 5/11/11 11:28:23 AM Photopage 5/20/11 7:22 AM Page 1 L.A. SCREENINGS 2 0 1 1 1 2 3 1. Telefe’s Meca Salado Pizarro, Michele Wasserman, Jesica Stescobich, Fernando Varela. 2. TV Azteca’s Carmen Pizano and Marcel Vinay. 3. FME’s Sheila Aguirre (r.) and Globo’s Paula Miranda. 4. Echo Bridge’s Emilia Nuccio. 5. Record TV’s Delmar Andrade, Turner’s Monica Sufar, Record’s Edson Mendes, Turner’s Enrique Iteredia. 6. ACI’s Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, Laura Voros. 4 5 6 77 88 9 7. SPTI’s Christine Morgan, Judy Guevara, Alexander Marin, Monica Veira, Adrianne Corzo. 8. WWE’s Thomas Sitrin, Emilio Revelo. 9. Frecuencia Latina’s Miki Ivcher, Patricia Jasin. 10. AETN’s Mayra Bracer and Christine Van Schoick 11. Bender Media’s Susan Bender, Sally Treibel. 12. 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