musicradio77
03-24-2005, 06:10 PM
From the Daily News:
Will the Real MTV Please Stand Up?
Its videos celebrate sex and violence,
but network still wants to be a role model
By REBECCA LOUIE
DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER
Every time MTV shows an opulent "Crib," a hedonistic "Spring Break" or a totally requested video with bullet-laced lyrics, the network offers a few humble pleas: "Fight for Your Rights." "Take a Stand Against Violence." "Protect Yourself." "Choose or Lose."
At first glance, MTV's stance seems like a outright contradiction. After all, this is a network where bikini babes writhe suggestively between safe-sex PSAs, and trigger-prone hoods like 50 Cent glower before anti-violence specials.
These mixed messages have sparked the wrath of everyone from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD) to the anti-abortion youth group Rock for Life to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
But for MTV, the split personality is actually an effort to explore issues raised by the controversial artists it promotes. "Young adults want to be recognized as being interested in other facets of our world," says Dave Sirulnick, executive vice president of MTV News and Production. "Just because you watch 'Newlyweds' doesn't mean you aren't interested in hearing about OxyContin or watching a documentary on troops in Iraq."
"Our viewers are not monolithic," adds Ian Rowe, vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs. "Neither are we."
Trying to be more than a trough for pop slop, MTV leverages its trend-setting rep and ties to the stars to address hot-button topics. It sent staff to Indonesia after the tsunami. And it promoted events - like Live Aid, KRS-One's Stop the Violence Movement and the "Choose or Lose" voter-mobilization effort - that matched worthy causes and performers.
The network also uses the controversies involving its biggest stars as fodder.
In 1989, Cher saw "If I Could Turn Back Time" sent to late night because she revealed too much well-toned behind. A year later, the network banned Madonna's steamy "Justify My Love" video. But MTV hardly shunned sex - by the mid-'90s, it had launched its "Protect Yourself" safe-sex campaign, which would win an Emmy.
Also in 1990, 2 Live Crew was tried for obscenity over its number "Me So Horny." MTV used the event to explore First Amendment rights.
One of the most explosive protests against a star came in 2000, when GLAAD denounced the channel's heavy promotion of Eminem's chart-topping "The Marshall Mathers LP." The group said the record was "soaked with violence."
"MTV should be ashamed of itself for promoting such a hateful, homophobic and misogynist artist," said a rep for the organization at the time. (GLAAD declined to be interviewed for this article.)
In response, MTV and GLAAD held discussions resulting in the special "When Lyrics Attack." The network refused to ban Eminem's performance at that year's Video Music Awards, but agreed to air a midshow PSA featuring the mother of gay hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard.
More recently, the network's extreme programming has irked politicians. Whether it's coupling housemates on "The Real World" or the loony antics of "Jackass," pols are taking notice.
Lieberman targeted MTV in 2001, after a 14-year-old boy copied Johnny Knoxville's "Human BBQ" stunt. MTV said the show's disclaimers exonerated the network. The senator disagreed.
"MTV is an enormously influential force," he said then. "We expect more."
And MTV is trying to give it. Jack Osbourne gave the network an exclusive interview about being hooked on the anti-ADD stimulant Adderall. And when shock comic Tom Green and foulmouthed Sharon Osbourne fell ill, they took their ailments to the air. Green hosted a special about his testicular cancer. "The Osbournes" featured Sharon's chemotherapy and recovery from breast cancer.
Despite years of protests, violence remains a big issue at MTV. Videos by Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest were the first cause of outcry, but a more serious test came during the late-'80s rise of gangsta rap. MTV refusing to air videos such as NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" and Public Enemy's "Hazy Shade of Criminal," even as "thugged-out" stars like Tupac Shakur were constantly aired. Ultimately, the network announced that it would ban videos with "gratuitous violence."
In 1998, MTV launched the "Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence" campaign, which used documentaries, round-table discussions and shock shows like "Scared Straight '99" to deal with the issues.
Yet felons such as 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Eminem still have license to brag about their violent ways. MTV believes it's letting viewers decide whether the artists are heroes or merely hoodlums.
"We don't judge artists, and we are not going to shy away from playing their music," says Sirulnick. "Were the Beatles a threat when they went psychedelic? Were the Stones when Mick Jagger sang 'Sympathy for the Devil?'
"Every time has its lightning rods. Our job is to take a nonjudgmental approach and let the viewers decide: 'Hey, I don't like this guy,' or 'Wow, I like him even more.'"
Will the Real MTV Please Stand Up?
Its videos celebrate sex and violence,
but network still wants to be a role model
By REBECCA LOUIE
DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER
Every time MTV shows an opulent "Crib," a hedonistic "Spring Break" or a totally requested video with bullet-laced lyrics, the network offers a few humble pleas: "Fight for Your Rights." "Take a Stand Against Violence." "Protect Yourself." "Choose or Lose."
At first glance, MTV's stance seems like a outright contradiction. After all, this is a network where bikini babes writhe suggestively between safe-sex PSAs, and trigger-prone hoods like 50 Cent glower before anti-violence specials.
These mixed messages have sparked the wrath of everyone from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD) to the anti-abortion youth group Rock for Life to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
But for MTV, the split personality is actually an effort to explore issues raised by the controversial artists it promotes. "Young adults want to be recognized as being interested in other facets of our world," says Dave Sirulnick, executive vice president of MTV News and Production. "Just because you watch 'Newlyweds' doesn't mean you aren't interested in hearing about OxyContin or watching a documentary on troops in Iraq."
"Our viewers are not monolithic," adds Ian Rowe, vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs. "Neither are we."
Trying to be more than a trough for pop slop, MTV leverages its trend-setting rep and ties to the stars to address hot-button topics. It sent staff to Indonesia after the tsunami. And it promoted events - like Live Aid, KRS-One's Stop the Violence Movement and the "Choose or Lose" voter-mobilization effort - that matched worthy causes and performers.
The network also uses the controversies involving its biggest stars as fodder.
In 1989, Cher saw "If I Could Turn Back Time" sent to late night because she revealed too much well-toned behind. A year later, the network banned Madonna's steamy "Justify My Love" video. But MTV hardly shunned sex - by the mid-'90s, it had launched its "Protect Yourself" safe-sex campaign, which would win an Emmy.
Also in 1990, 2 Live Crew was tried for obscenity over its number "Me So Horny." MTV used the event to explore First Amendment rights.
One of the most explosive protests against a star came in 2000, when GLAAD denounced the channel's heavy promotion of Eminem's chart-topping "The Marshall Mathers LP." The group said the record was "soaked with violence."
"MTV should be ashamed of itself for promoting such a hateful, homophobic and misogynist artist," said a rep for the organization at the time. (GLAAD declined to be interviewed for this article.)
In response, MTV and GLAAD held discussions resulting in the special "When Lyrics Attack." The network refused to ban Eminem's performance at that year's Video Music Awards, but agreed to air a midshow PSA featuring the mother of gay hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard.
More recently, the network's extreme programming has irked politicians. Whether it's coupling housemates on "The Real World" or the loony antics of "Jackass," pols are taking notice.
Lieberman targeted MTV in 2001, after a 14-year-old boy copied Johnny Knoxville's "Human BBQ" stunt. MTV said the show's disclaimers exonerated the network. The senator disagreed.
"MTV is an enormously influential force," he said then. "We expect more."
And MTV is trying to give it. Jack Osbourne gave the network an exclusive interview about being hooked on the anti-ADD stimulant Adderall. And when shock comic Tom Green and foulmouthed Sharon Osbourne fell ill, they took their ailments to the air. Green hosted a special about his testicular cancer. "The Osbournes" featured Sharon's chemotherapy and recovery from breast cancer.
Despite years of protests, violence remains a big issue at MTV. Videos by Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest were the first cause of outcry, but a more serious test came during the late-'80s rise of gangsta rap. MTV refusing to air videos such as NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" and Public Enemy's "Hazy Shade of Criminal," even as "thugged-out" stars like Tupac Shakur were constantly aired. Ultimately, the network announced that it would ban videos with "gratuitous violence."
In 1998, MTV launched the "Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence" campaign, which used documentaries, round-table discussions and shock shows like "Scared Straight '99" to deal with the issues.
Yet felons such as 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Eminem still have license to brag about their violent ways. MTV believes it's letting viewers decide whether the artists are heroes or merely hoodlums.
"We don't judge artists, and we are not going to shy away from playing their music," says Sirulnick. "Were the Beatles a threat when they went psychedelic? Were the Stones when Mick Jagger sang 'Sympathy for the Devil?'
"Every time has its lightning rods. Our job is to take a nonjudgmental approach and let the viewers decide: 'Hey, I don't like this guy,' or 'Wow, I like him even more.'"