Sparky! Politics at dgiVista.org

Michael Moore announced yesterday that Disney will not allow its Miramax production arm to release Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" film:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-05-04

Today, the New York Times editorial page took Moore's side:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-05-06

This is no big surprise. Big corporate interests owning big media and censoring big criticism.

Moore's books have gained from viral marketing, particularly when Stupid White Men was "held up" by its publisher. Disney's move is, from a cynical market perspective, merely good for business: for Moore and ultimately Disney itself...creating a kind of symbiotic relationship between Moore and Disney [if you want to be that cynical]. Moore's comments at the end of The Corporation indicate that he knows full well that big media only releases his books and movies for their bottom line, completely regardless of the fact that the core theme of Moore's work has been the corruption and danger of corporate pillage.

One thing that is quite odd about this move, though, is that much of what Moore's film documents has already been reported in North American media. The Bush family links to Saudi billionaires and bin Ladens, the evacuation of the bin Laden family out of the USA in the days after 9/11 with permission from the Oval Office: these have been reported enough that actually, I'm wondering just what new information will actually be in Moore's film.

And the beat goes on.

Finis

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