The artist and his morning paper. "When I first laid eyes upon that horrid Times cover I remembered Oscar Wilde’s shrewd comments about the so-called fourth estate."

The Los Angeles Times abandoned all pretense of being a serious newspaper guided by high journalistic standards, when on March 5, 2010 the daily ran a full color paid advertisement as its front page rather than headlines and photographs  from the news stories of the day.

It has been confirmed by the Hollywood news publication The Wrap, that the Walt Disney Company paid the Times approximately $700,000 to run a full color ad for the Disney-Tim Burton production of “Alice in Wonderland.”

The deal included not just the front page, but the inside front and back pages as well as the outside back cover of the publication.

Basically the entire newspaper was wrapped in an ad designed to look like an actual front page. A full color banner ad situated at the bottom of the paper’s genuine front page was also part of the deal, as was the incorporation of The Times masthead into the advertisement.

The March 5, 2010 front page of the L.A. Times. "Journalism: Down the Rabbit Hole."

The spokesman for The Times, John Conroy, was quoted by The Wrap as saying the newspaper “worked very closely with Disney to come up with an exceptional and distinctive way to help them open Alice in Wonderland. It was designed to create buzz, and to extend the film’s already brilliant marketing campaign.” The New York Times quoted Conroy as saying that “It’s taking a concept that we normally apply to new media and reimaging it to a concept in a newspaper.”

What I find so appalling about the Times-Disney-Burton ad is its composition; it was laid over genuine news stories concerning President Obama’s healthcare “reforms” and his escalating war in Afghanistan. A gaudy photo of a heavily made up Johnnie Depp dressed as the demented Mad Hatter was superimposed over sobering news headings, partly obliterating them with the movie character’s top hat and flaming red hair. The underlying message, whether intentional or not, is clear; never mind those U.S. soldiers who are fighting, killing, and dying in Afghanistan – watch this movie.

"The state of journalism in the United States today."

That the newspaper would proudly transform its entire front page into a commercial platform for the promotion of a frothy Hollywood triviality – as the nation fights two wars while in the throes of extreme economic crisis - perfectly illustrates the state of journalism in the United States today. The alternative title to this article might just as well have been, “Journalism: Down the Rabbit Hole.”

Apologists for The Times are quick to mention that the paper is a business like any other, and that a severe recession and changing media landscape justifies any and all schemes to bring in revenue. Why not then replace the paper’s Editorial page with advertisements designed to appear as editorial opinions, or perhaps cease publishing hard news stories altogether in favor of celebrity and human-interest reportage, already a lucrative trend for corporate news outlets. To rationalize The Times’ abject surrender to commercialism misses the point; a news gathering organization that is beholden to advertisers will edit and modify content in order to please those advertisers, it is naïve to think otherwise.

It must be remembered that the Tribune Company, a Chicago based media conglomerate owned by billionaire real estate tycoon Sam Zell, acquired the Times Mirror Company and the Los Angeles Times in June of 2000 for $8.3 billion. The Tribune Company’s annual revenue is approximately $5.73 billion a year, and Mr. Zell’s personal net worth has been estimated to be around $6 billion. The Tribune Company owns 10 newspapers (including the Times and the second largest Spanish language paper in the U.S., Hoy), over 20 television stations (including L.A.’s KTLA), the WGN radio station in Chicago, and a number of other media assets that includes Chicago magazine and the Advocate Weekly Newspapers.

Under Zell’s ownership the Times has suffered massive staff cuts, with more than 300 newsroom personal laid off. The paper’s editor, James E. O’Shea, was fired in 2008 for resisting staff cuts. In 2009 the paper’s “California” section was done away with, eliminating the publication’s long established local news desk. It was then decided to fold local news into the paper’s front section – which was reorganized to de-emphasize national and international news. In a 2008 column for the Washington Post titled, The L.A. Times’s Human Wrecking Ball, journalist Harold Meyerson castigated Zell for being a “visiting Visigoth,” noting that the tycoon thought:

“there was too much coverage of world and national affairs, he told Times writers and editors; readers don’t want that stuff. Last week, the company decreed that its 12 papers would have to cut by 500 the number of pages they devoted every week to news, features and editorials, until the ratio of pages devoted to copy and pages devoted to advertising was a nice, even 1 to 1. At the Times, that would mean eliminating 82 pages a week.

(….) Voluntarily or not, large numbers of highly talented editors and reporters have left. The editorial staff is about two-thirds its size in the late 1990s, with further deep cuts in the offing. A paper that is both an axiom and an ornament of Los Angeles life, that helps set the political, business and artistic agenda for one of America’s two great world metropolises, is being shrunk and, if Zell continues to get his way, dumbed down.”

Observably, the Alice in Wonderland front page ad debacle is the ultimate expression of the dumbing down Meyerson forewarned of, and the Los Angeles Times has thoroughly trivialized and degraded journalism with the stunt. To be fair, the degeneration of the Times is part and parcel of the overall collapse of journalism in the U.S., as corporate news outlets abandon investigative journalism and insightful reporting on national and international affairs, for stories about car chases, the lives of celebrities, puppies, and other deadening inconsequentialities.

There is however another way of looking at the predicament; corporate “journalism” is not at all deteriorating, but fulfilling its mission of obfuscating and distracting. In his 1891 essay, The Soul of Man under Socialism, the writer and aesthete Oscar Wilde made an observation regarding the role of journalism that is pertinent to the topic at hand:

“What is there behind the leading article but prejudice, stupidity, cant, and twaddle? And when these four are joined together they make a terrible force, and constitute the new authority. In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. This is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralizing. Somebody – was it Burke? – called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three (….) In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever.“

One can only imagine the caustic remarks Wilde would send flying at Sam Zell and the other potentates behind today’s 21st century media circus. When I first laid eyes upon that horrid Times cover I remembered Wilde’s shrewd comments about the so-called fourth estate, but I also thought back to an even more trenchant criticism of the press, a photomontage made in 1930 by the German artist John Heartfield, whose works regularly appeared in the pages of the left-wing Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung (AIZ - Workers’ Illustrated Magazine).

"Whoever Reads Bourgeois Newspapers Becomes Blind and Deaf: Away with These Stultifying Bandages!" - John Heartfield. Photomontage. 1930. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Heartfield’s image depicted a man whose head was wrapped in the front pages of the two leading German Social Democratic newspapers of the day, Vorwärts (Forwards) and Tempo, the man’s swathed head being made to look like a cabbage. Heartfield placed text over the image that chided the Social Democrats for their centrist politics and accommodationist stance regarding Germany’s ruling class. The mocking caption was a parody of a Prussian patriotic song, “I am Prussian. Do you know my colors?” (which mentions the colors of the German flag), further linking the Social Democrats to the powers that be. Translated from German, Heartfield’s caption ran as follows:

“I am a cabbagehead. Do you know my leaves? I’m nearly out of my mind with worries, but I keep my mouth shut and hope for a savior. I want to be a black-red-and-gold cabbagehead! I don’t want to see anything, or hear anything, or get mixed up in public affairs. And you can take everything, even the shirt on my back, yet, I won’t let the Red press into my home!”

Along the bottom of the photomontage, Heartfield placed the following caption in bold text; “Whoever reads bourgeois newspapers becomes blind and deaf. Away with stultifying bandages!”

Corporate advertising art and design without a doubt makes up much of the modern urban environment we move through on a daily basis. It has become so omnipresent that people barely notice it - inciting major advertising corporations to dream up new schemes for attention getting in an ever escalating battle over shaping public opinion. As a result, more than a few aggressively offensive and obnoxious visual campaigns have been inflicted upon us. One that comes to mind is the current ad promotion for L.A.’s local television “news” broadcaster, CBS 2 - KCAL 9. Now blanketing Los Angeles are hundreds of illuminated bus shelters and gigantic billboards that read: “CLEARLY- L.A.’s Dominant News Force.”

That the advertising company behind this jingoistic marketing blitz decided on martial language for its promotion is bad enough, but the ruthless slogan is coupled with a militaristic image that conjures up the brutality of war. No doubt the ad execs responsible for the campaign will stand behind the subterfuge that the image simply represents the CBS/KCAL fleet of helicopters flying over the city against a backdrop of L.A.’s ubiquitous palm trees, but look again, what’s that you see - Vietnam?

A quick glance at the official theatrical posters for the musical Miss Saigon, and the movie Apocalypse Now, tells you exactly what served as an inspiration for those ad execs behind the CBS/KCAL campaign, but honestly - someone should tell them that the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam. Or could it be that the CEO’s had the Iraq war in mind when they approved the billboard and bus shelter graphics? Perhaps they hoped that by equating the journalists of CBS/KCAL to U.S. soldiers in Iraq, some of that “support our troops” sentiment might rub off on their broadcast clients. Such an ugly and perverse display of venality coming from the commercial advertising world cannot be discounted.

[ CLEARLY: The Dominant Force? - US Army Blackhawk helicopters fly over occupied Baghdad, March 2007, in this now widely published photo taken by AFP photographer, Patrick Baz. ]

At any rate, whatever the impetus behind the CBS/KCAL ads might be, they are a picture perfect example of what I like to call, Totalitarian Postmodern, a dangerous aesthetic that threatens and undermines democratic values.

On September 2nd, 2005, NBC television broadcast a special one hour telethon designed to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but the scripted telecast went awry when rapper Kanye (KAHN’-yay) West condemned George W. Bush for his racism. I watched A Concert for Hurricane Relief as it was broadcast for the West coast… edited and censored, which was something I didn’t realize until turning to the web for more information on the broadcast. The show featured more than a dozen musicians and a number of super-star actors, who presented information on the tragedy in the US southern gulf states and invited viewers to make donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The show began appropriately with Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. (both native sons of New Orleans), leading a jazz band that played New Orleans-style Dixieland jazz - the music closely associated with the devastated city.

It was easy to see that the rather somber broadcast was put together quickly on a relatively small budget, with the musicians and stars not being given much time to rehearse. With varying degrees of discomfiture stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Glenn Close, Richard Gere and John Goodman struggled with scripted lines they had most likely never read before. But the stiffness really didn’t matter… it was the victims of Katrina that one and all cared for. A number of singers performed, but it was Aaron Neville’s rendition of Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927 that I found especially moving. The song has an eerie resonance today because of its haunting chorus, “they’re trying to wash us away, they’re trying to wash us away.” At that point I couldn’t watch any more… Neville’s performance choked me up and I left the room. Turning to the internet for information about the broadcast, I discovered that Kanye West made an appearance that ruffled some feathers. At first I thought I had missed the controversy by walking out of the room after Neville’s song… but as I read more news reports I realized NBC had censored the time-delayed broadcast for the West coast.

Organizers of the NBC special paired West with comedian Mike Myers for a 90-second segment where the two were supposed to take turns reading a scripted message about the hurricane’s destructive power. Myers opened with his perfunctory reading of the teleprompter, and then it became West’s turn to address the nation. Seemingly nervous, he ignored the teleprompter for some pointed barbs on race and class, succeeding also in connecting the occupation of Iraq with the war at home: “I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, ‘They’re looting.’ You see a white family, it says, ‘They’re looking for food.’ And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give: and to just imagine if I was down there and those are my people down there. To anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can - help with the set-up that America’s set up to help the poor, the Black people, the less well off - slow as possible. The Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realized how a lot of the people who could help are at war right now fighting another war. They’ve given them [the National Guard] permission to go down [to New Orleans] and shoot us.”

Myers looked consternated by West’s remark, but stuck to his teleprompter script. When his “blah blah blah” recitation concluded, West took over and went out in a blaze of glory by saying: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” He delivered his bombshell with the unwavering conviction of someone who knew they were playing the role of upsetter. There was a brief awkward moment of silence as West simply stared into the camera and Myers turned several shades whiter. The camera quickly cut away to comedian Chris Tucker. The entire segment was aired live on the East coast on a seven-second tape delay, which enabled West to beat the censors and insert a bit of reality into the corporate media giant’s star-studded extravaganza. The comments were not only broadcast live by NBC, but were also simulcast to tens of millions on MSNBC, CNBC and Pax. NBC completely edited out West’s segment for the taped broadcast aired three hours later on the West coast.

Releasing a statement justifying their censorship, NBC said: “Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person’s opinion.” I think it’s safe to say it’s not just ‘one person’s opinion’ we’re dealing with here. The majority of New Orleans’ population - which is 80 % African American - is most likely thinking the exact same thing. Moreover, I don’t recall NBC ever apologizing for peddling the Bush administration lies about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction, a fabrication used to drag the American people into a war that has to date taken the lives of almost 2,000 US soldiers, squandered over $200 billion dollars, and killed up to 100,000 Iraqis.

Kanye West’s verbal assault was a historic television moment that corporate entities will now go to great lengths to prevent in the future. Live television broadcasts are rare in the extreme, and the world of corporate broadcasting has become so constricted and edited that spontaneous, unsanitized thoughts never get an airing. West’s unrehearsed lambaste - as rambling as it was, must be seen as a brilliant creative intervention. The few sentences he managed to blurt out contained more biting realism than thousands of hours of commercial news stories spoonfed to us on a daily basis. West tore through the media machine’s veneer of respectability and false objectivity, to reveal a thought shared by hundreds of millions of people around the globe. NBC’s glaring censorship and frenzied attempt to distance itself from West only provided a lesson on the nature of corporate media and its masquerading as a “free press.” It was Marshall McLuhan who wrote, The Medium is the Massage, a book that foretold the power of media and technology in shaping consciousness… and on Sept. 2nd, Kanye West borrowed a page from McLuhan’s manuscript.

West’s rebelliousness and NBC’s reaction, reminds me of another incident where corporate media butted heads with an outspoken nonconformist. In March of 1970, antiwar activist and co-founder of the Yippies, Abbie Hoffman, was invited to be taped for an appearance on the Merv Griffin show. The longhaired Hoffman showed up at the TV studio wearing a suede jacket with fringe, and after being introduced to the audience and fellow guests, asked Griffin if “anyone would mind if I took off my jacket?” The host naturally said “Go ahead.” The Yippie prankster removed his jacket to reveal a shirt made out of an American flag. The guests were appalled and members of the audience were outraged. It may be hard to visualize this today, with every self-proclaimed “patriot” wearing an American flag garment of some kind, but back in 1970 it was considered treasonous - especially if such a garment was worn by an anti-Vietnam War protestor. In fact, Hoffman had already been arrested and put on trial for wearing such a shirt.

The mild-mannered Merv Griffin attempted to provoke Hoffman, “How can you claim there’s so much repression in America if you’re allowed on my show?” What no one knew was that prior to broadcasting the taped segment, CBS executives had made a decision to censor the show. Just before airing the tape, CBS apologized to its audience: “It seemed one of the guests had seen fit to come on the show wearing a shirt made from an American flag. Therefore, to avoid possible litigation the network executives have decided to ‘mask out’ all visible portions of the offending shirt by electronic means. We hope our viewers will understand.” When the taped show began and Hoffman removed his jacket, the screen suddenly switched to a bright day-glo blue. The host and other guests were shown, but every time the camera moved to Hoffman - the screen went blue. The episode was especially amusing since the host’s lecturing of Hoffman on the lack of censorship in the US was itself conducted against a backdrop of electronic masking. That evening over 88,000 people called the station to protest the censorship, and in the week that followed, stores across the country sold out of shirts bearing flag motifs.

Given that no one else in the mainstream media (or the world of pop culture) has publicly drawn a connection between the tragedy in the Gulf States and the occupation of Iraq, West should be congratulated for his outspokenness. I think it only proper that Kanye West be awarded the Golden Yippie Marshall McLuhan Award for best guerrilla media actor in a time of conformity, cowardice and censorship.

Meanwhile in the pop culture department, the Hollywood Dream machine has joined the war on Iraq. Universal Pictures has announced it will produce No True Glory: Battle for Fallujah starring Harrison Ford. I’m not kidding. The film will be based on the yet unfinished book No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah by former marine and now embedded reporter, Bing West. Harrison Ford, who of course played the ridiculously macho Indiana Jones in the Raiders of the Lost Ark series, gets to play General Jim Mattis, leader of the U.S. assault on Fallujah. The film is slated for release in 2008. It sounds as if Univeral is trying to outdo John Wayne’s 1968 Vietnam war propaganda classic, The Green Berets. If my memory serves me well, the U.S. didn’t win that war.