Skipping Skip, Part 2

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider remains reluctant to jump into the media foolishness over L’Affaire Gates (see: any Bill O’Reilly or Keith Olbermann segment on the subject). But we would be remiss if we failed to point out this regrettable incident of wardrobe profiling.

According to the New York Times, Sabine Charles, “a white cardiologist who . . . is married to a black man,” said the following:

“Even here in this diverse area [of Chicago] I’ve heard people say, ‘Look at those black guys coming toward us.’ I say, ‘Yes, but they’re wearing lacrosse shorts and Calvin Klein jeans. They’re probably the kids of the professor down the street.’ ”

“You have to be able to discern differences between people,” she said, criticizing the practice of racial profiling. “It’s very frustrating.”

Yes it is – just as frustrating as the sting of lacrosse shortsism.

Free the Calvin Klein 1!

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House Safire

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

Bill Safire returned to the New York Times op-ed page today with a piece headlined “The Cold War’s Hot Kitchen.”

EXACTLY one-half century ago, one of the great confrontational moments of the cold war seized the world’s attention: Nikita Khrushchev, bombastic anti-capitalist leader of the Soviet Union, and Richard Nixon, vice president of the United States with the reputation of a hard-line anti-communist, came to rhetorical grips in the model kitchen of the “typical American house” at the 1959 American exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow.

But the Nixon-Khrushchev faceoff wasn’t the only confrontation in that model kitchen. The exhibition also featured a old-fashioned bakeoff between General Foods and General Mills, both of which had been invited to demonstrate “sped-up meal preparation, American style,” writes Susan Marks in her book, Finding Betty Crocker.

From eleven in the morning until nine at night, both companies staged continuous presentations in their joint exhibition space in Sokolniki Park. The Model Kitchen fascinated and entertained a steady stream of Russian visitors, many of whom watched a cake-baking demonstration from start to finish, which could be as long as two hours, including cool-down time.

Funny, but cool-down time was exactly what Nixon and Khrushchev could have used.

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Skipping Skip

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

The hardworking staff here at Campaign Outsider has argued hammer and tongue over what our position should be on L’Affaire Gates.

For starters, we refer you to Media Nation, where Dan Kennedy, as always, has extremely thoughtful posts here and elsewhere. For another view, check out Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi’s take.

For us, we’ll just venture that in this situation, everyone ran true to form, as they say at  the  racetrack.

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Controversial With a Capital Con

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

From our Fashion & Style Desk (slogan: “Got Mirror?”)

The Cut, New York magazine’s fashion blog (hat tip to the Missus), informs us that “Levi’s Attempts Convict-Chic,” which is to say that the jeansmaker’s 2009 Vintage collection (Lookbook here) is “inspired by prison.” (Presumably they’ll all be getting jailhouse tats at Levi’s Central sometime soon.)

The Cut reports:

Apparently, in the twenties and thirties, between eras of black-and-white stripes and orange jumpsuits, convicts wore denim. Uniforms included overalls, white vests, T-shirts, sack coats, and chambray shirts. So timing-wise, if we’re in the worst economic downturn since the Depression, bringing prison denim back makes perfect sense.

Yeah – makes perfect sense if you’re part of the PoMo Irony Brigade that also brought us Heroin Chic and Homeless Chic.

To be fair, The Cut does arrive at this conclusion:

Except it might not be (and maybe this is just us) the best way to sell jeans. Levi’s makes some cute stuff that’s affordable and of good quality. But this silly idea may just ruin the clothes for us.

But not for everyone, we’re guessing.

Also from The Cut: “Barneys Removes Bloody Mannequins from Windows.”

This week, Barneys unveiled windows of bloodied mannequins. The idea was probably to showcase clothes that shoppers would want to be caught dead in, as the saying goes.

This fashion victim, however, pleaded mitigating circumstances: “the displays . . . looked not onto the street but the vestibule.” Regardless, Barneys creative director Simon Doonan, who says he was out of town when the displays were installed, had them removed “after reporters called to ask him about them.”

As for The Cut, this time it’s foursquare behind murder and mayhem:

After all, we see more appalling things just walking around New York every day. Like window displays in sex shops, piles of garbage that are bigger than our entire apartment, random dudes shamelessly ogling the breasts of strangers, and toe rings (why?). Some red paint splatters on a vestibule window? That’s nothing.

That’s nothing?

That’s something, as the saying goes.

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Copyrights and Wrongs

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

A couple of cracking good (as the Brits say) copyright dustups are in the news lately.

First, there’s this: “John McCain Apologizes To Jackson Browne, Settles Dispute Over ‘Running On Empty.'”

Browne sued McCain, the Republican National Committee, and the Ohio Republican Party  over a web ad that “used the well-known Democrat’s 1977 ‘Running on Empty’ as its soundtrack. The ad criticized Barack Obama’s energy policy.”

And all this time I assumed “Running on Empty” was John McCain’s presidential campaign song.

Then, from our Transatlantic Copyright Infringement bureau, there’s this donnybrook from the United Kingdom: “Legal row over National Portrait Gallery images placed on Wikipedia.”

The Guardian reported last week:

The National Portrait Gallery has threatened legal proceedings for breach of copyright against a man who downloaded thousands of high-resolution images from its website, and placed them in an archive of free-to-use images on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia volunteer and Seattle resident Derrick Coetzee uploaded the portraits, all of which are available in low resolution on the NPG website and all of which are all in the public domain. But as the New York Times reported:

The gallery threatened legal action against Mr. Coetzee, saying that while the painted portraits may be old and thus beyond copyright protection, the photographs are new and therefore copyrighted work.

Beyond that, the Times story noted, Wikipedia overall is a “desert for photos.” That’s largely because

the site runs only pictures with the most permissive Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to use an image, for commercial purposes or not, as long as the photographer is credited.

There’s no indication in the news reports I’ve seen that such credit accompanies the Wikipedia images from the NPG.

In the end, this is about money, of course. The gallery told the Guardian that

it would be happy for the online site to use low-resolution images but was “very concerned” about loss of revenue from copyright fees for the high-resolution versions, which form a significant part of its income.The projected gross revenue from fees in 2008/9 was over more than £339,000.

Welcome to the future of intellectual property. As Christopher Caldwell recently wrote in his Weekly Standard piece “Steal this eBook”:

The Internet is an evolving human creation. It is a cultural phenomenon, a set of behaviors. What etiquette and what law prevail there will depend on how we transfer our old common-sense understandings from the physical world into cyberspace.

Your transfer goes here.

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Soda Jerks

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

The Financial Times reports that Coca Cola has been lobbying on Capitol Hill against a Senate finance committee proposal to tax non-diet sodas and juices. “[T]he consumer in this environment is not ready for a tax on a basic staple like non-alcoholic beverages.”

As if in another environment the consumer will be ready.

Coke’s pitch is almost as comical as the classic Anheuser-Busch “Can the Beer Tax” campaign back in 1990, when the federal government was contemplating a hike in the excise tax on beer. The TV spot in the campaign (sorry, I can’t find a link, but I do have a videotape if you want to stop by my office) features the usual golden-cam shots of heartland farmers and factory workers, coal miners and Kiwanis Club members. A folksy narrator says:

This country was built by Americans proud to earn their rewards. Folks like you who give their fair share, and expect a fair deal in return.

But now some people want more than your fair share. They want to raise the federal excise tax on your beer.

Americans already pay over $3 billion a year in beer taxes.

So don’t pay more for what you’ve already earned. Tell ’em to can the beer tax.

The ’em being Congress, which received over 110,000 letters (thoughtfully provided by A-B) in the first month of this campaign.

There are plenty of studies deconstructing the beer industry’s objections to excise taxes. A couple of points about A-B’s TV spot, though:

1) That $3 billion figure is one of those Potemkin statistics – it sounds like a lot, but who knows? We know this: beer drinkers get off easy compared to smokers. (Fun fact: According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2007 states approved a combined $1 billion in tobacco-tax increases, compared with $3 million in alcohol-tax increases.)

2) “Don’t pay more for what you’ve already earned” is one of those Potemkin slogans that sound great but don’t really mean anything (see also: “We are the change we’ve been waiting for”).

3) Despite Anheuser-Busch’s best efforts, the federal excise tax on beer did go up in 1991.

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Fun Fact to Know and Tell

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

The King of Madison Avenue, Kenneth Roman’s recent biography of legendary adman David Ogilvy, provides this interesting origin of a time-honored bromide about staying healthy.

In the 1920s, Mathers [the precursor of agency giant Ogilvy & Mather] pioneered generic (non-branded) advertising with its “Eat More Fruit” campaign and its enduring slogan “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Who knew?

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Seersuckah

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

Funny – I was thinking about summer wardrobes tonight as the Missus and I got ready to go out for a nice (birthday – mine) dinner, when what did I encounter but David Ignatius’ post on the Daily Beast about, yes, summer wardrobes.

These days, serious men are expected to dress like heads of state, which means a dark suit for all occasions, even in the sweltering heat of midsummer. It’s the look that says: Trust me, I’m monochromatic, I’m dark and un-mysterious, I’m cool on the inside even though it’s hot as hell in this gray wool suit.

Ignatius, as it turns out, is not happy.

I have a handsome golden-tan double-breasted suit made by Yves Saint Laurent that I tried to wear when I was business editor of The Washington Post. Our retailing reporter, a perky, stylish young woman, told me once that I should never, ever put it on it again. I have two light-colored double-breasted suits made by my Hong Kong tailor, the incomparable A-Man Hing Cheong, but I have given up on them, too.

Occasionally, I can get away with a lightweight Glen plaid suit, but even that drew comments this year. (“Wow, a summer suit!”) As for the yellow linen blazer with thin blue stripes that was on sale at Brooks Brothers, my wife let me wear it once, just to show me that I was crazy to buy it, and then banned it. And my newly purchased royal blue Zegna blazer drew a rebuke even from my editor at The Daily Beast when I wore it on Morning Joe last week. The permissible range for men’s fashion is A to B.

That reminded me of the great  A.J. Liebling’s book, The Earl of Louisiana, which chronicles the madcap adventures of Louisiana Gov. Earl Long and features this classic opening sentence:

Southern political personalities, like sweet corn, travel badly.

Liebling then waxes wardrobely in describing the Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Honorable John Fournet Baptiste.

The suit he had on when I saw him, of rich, snuff-colored silk, was cut with the virtuosity that only sub-tropical tailors expend on hot-weather clothing. Summer clothes in the North are are makeshifts, like seasonal slipcovers on furniture, and look it.

Go south, David Ignatius, go south.

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CPBgone

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

My recent post about the Bay State Banner’s  accepting a City of Boston bailout (a certified concept-with-a-capital-K), brought a question from one of Campaign Outsider’s excellent commenters about the federal government-sponsored Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“[I]f this loan troubles you,” he asked, “why does CPB-funded WBUR [where I’m a media analyst] not trouble you?”

Actually, it troubles me a lot. As does the CPB’s funding of PBS. (Full disclosure: I spent 11 years at Boston PBS station WGBH.)

Government funding of public broadcasting is, if not a cancer, certainly a serious skin lesion. From what I’ve been told, government funding of PBS affiliates averages out at about 15%. The price of that funding, however, is far higher.

Campaign Outsider Flashback™:

Back in the ’70s I worked as a claims adjuster for the Social Security Administration in their SSI division, which provided welfare for the aged, the disabled, and the blind. “Claims adjusting” was a euphemism for cutting benefits.

One day a claimant sat across my desk and complained about the public service – or lack thereof – he was receiving from this public servant.

“Hey – I pay your salary!” he shouted.

“You’re on welfare, you moron,” I replied. “You don’t pay taxes.”

The lyrics might not be the same, but the tune is: If you take any taxpayer money, they think they pay your salary. Which means they’re the boss of you. So you had better toe their line.

During the past few years, government funding has made PBS timid and risk-averse. See Postcards from Buster‘s Excellent Lesbian Adventure (not available on most PBS stations) or Frontline‘s Iraq documentaries (now available in cursing or non-cursing versions).

Admittedly, it would not be a small thing for PBS affiliates to cut their budgets by 15%.

But it would be a smart thing.

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Politico-dependency

Posted on July 19, 2009 by Campaign Outsider

So the fine folks at Time magazine’s Swampland blog spent some time mocking:

this ridiculous Politico article about Obama’s drinking habits (Does the President drink too much? Some callers to a Louisiana sports radio show think so!)

Before anyone gets too dismissive of the political stalkerati website, though, check out this Vanity Fair piece by the often-sharp-but-always-annoying Michael Wolff.

According to Wolff, Politico just “may have solved the future of news.” In typical Wolffian fashion, he proceeds to pile up the ex cathedra proclamations:

It is often entirely undifferentiated news. The minor mixed with the game-changing . . .

It isn’t writing either. That implies a series of choices, of shaping and weighing. This is typing. Amassing. Collecting. Channeling . . .

This is a flattening not only of information and sources but also of newsroom process . . .

It’s the raw stuff, before the family paper or knuckleheaded network news has watered it down.

Let’s cleanse the palate with a few facts (at least according to Wolff): Politico has roughly 6.7 million unique visitors a month, has a larger presence in the West Wing than any other news organization, and publishes a print edition (circulation a cherce 32,000, mostly inside the Beltway) that accounts for half its revenue.

Politico co-founder John Harris told Wolff that the action has moved from traditional news organizations to “the individual talents and reputations of journalists.” In other words, the unit of value in journalism is no longer the newspaper or network newscast or – heads up, Time! – print magazine. The current unit of value is the story, and the buzzier the better.

Big finish by Wolff:

Politico seems like a pretty credible version of what the world will be: obsessives everywhere in their particular narrow-focused areas of interest (“silos” is the modern information term), flashing ever more information, ever quicker, in ever shorter bites—the shorter you can make it, the more information there can be—to all the ships at sea.

And the obsessives keep on comin’. The New York Times reports that Evan Smith, editor of the well-respected Texas Monthly, is leaving to head up a new website, Texas Tribune.

“This is not about horse-race politics, primarily,” Mr. Smith, who will have the title of chief executive, said. “It’s going to be a lot of deep-dive policy stuff.”

Deep dive, eh? Time to get an oxygen tank.

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