02-12-2004, 12:06 PM
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#212 (permalink)
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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cynthetiq
from WSJ Feb 4
Tom Freston responded to the Editor of the WSJ and I will post that later.
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I'm not sure what date it was printed, but here is the text.
Quote:
MTV Does Not Deserve A Scarlet Letter
I'm writing to express my outrage about your Feb. 4 Editorial "Viacom's Porn Channel." It is not only offensive but a clear indication that you are out of touch with mainstream culture. Also, I am deeply offended by your personal attack on Judy McGrath, who is a tremendous executive and creative force in television and a fantastic champion of youth culture and positive social messages.
It is completely irresponsible and unfair to use an isolated, unfortunate split second incident to pain all of MTV with the brush of pornography. The reason MTV agreed to produce the Super Bowl halftime show was that it gave us the opportunity to reach the biggest television audience with performances from popular artists, combined with a positive message about empowerment and voting – the key themes of our recently launched "Choose or Lose" campaign.
We worked in collaboration with CBS and the NFL to develop the entire show. We booked mainstream artist – established musicians – who have sold millions of records and have had huge hits at the top of the charts. These are artists who have performed all over broadcast television, at USO shows, and pervious Super Bowls and who are spokespeople for major advertisers.
We are not proud of the crotch grabbing in one of the performances, and it was never intended to be part of the show. And we were shocked and embarrassed about the last split second of the halftime show. Janet Jackson has acknowledged in both written and televised statements that the decision to have a costume reveal her breast at the end of her performance was hers alone and that MTV, CBS and the NFL were completely unaware of her plans. It was totally inappropriate and unacceptable and it's ludicrous to think we would have knowingly included it.
The Wall Street Journal may choose to believe that MTV was in on this finale, but the FCC investigation will fully prove that we are telling the truth.
MTV is the largest network in the world and the most recognized media brand in the world. We've grown our audience and our business each year for the past 23 years by thoroughly knowing our audience and credibly and creatively connecting with them.
MTV reflects the culture of its youthful audience. Your notion that MTV can single handedly make stars out of people gives us far too much credit and vastly underestimates the genuine appeal that these artists have with audiences worldwide.
Under Judy McGrath's leadership, MTV has always stood for freedom of artistic expression and healthy cultural debate, so we respect your right to voice your opinion, which has become, about MTV, a broken, predictable record.
From the music we feature to the original programming we produce, the imagery seen on MTV has been freely and enthusiastically embraced by our viewers, primarily 18-to-24-year-olds, whose tastes are as different from their elders as the tests of the 1950s and '60s youth were from the older adult cultures of those times. The elder culture doesn't generally like or understand the youth culture of their times: they find it alarming, and even scary. But society has always survived it; and has even in many cases been enriched by it. In fact, any report on today's youth would find that they are a more responsible and more tolerant generation than the ones that preceded them.
Judy McGrath makes sure that, everyday, MTV and the other networks she runs, in addition to entertaining viewers, creatively and passionately address the issues that matter to them and empowers them to get involved and make a difference. From ending prejudice to fighting AIDS to saving music programs in schools to registering young people to vote, Judy can feel incredibly proud and despite your offensive claims, we are equally proud of her.
MTV lives in and embraces the diverse world around us. It's a shame that the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal does not.
Tom Freston
Chairman and CEO
MTV Networks
New York
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