p2pnet.net News:- It’s been a long time coming but finally, the mainstream press seems to be realising something the online ‘alternative’ media have been saying for years:

Entertainment industry statements and studies must be very carefully scrutinized for factual content before being quoted.

It’s a hard road for many of the reporters working for the biggie outlets because although they ostensibly answer to editors, in reality, for many, the record labels, music studios and the rest of the Hollywood corporate pack are the ones calling the shots.

Hollywood spends millions of dollars on advertising AND – actually owns significant numbers of radio, tv and print businssess, or has direct and not-so-direct interests and involvements in them. This in turn means patently distorted, self-serving ‘news’ items are cooked up by the likes of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA and routinely served whole by the media, just as if the stories came from credible sources.

The latest farce centres on a newly released MPAA study which claims 25% of surfers have illegally downloaded a film at one time or another.

Yankee Group senior analyst Mike Goodman says although the numbers appear to be accurate, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is using incomplete reporting to “paint a picture that is far from reality, “states Jay Lyman’s TechNewsWorld story here.

“They neglect to show the other side of it, which is really misleading. It’s just the fact that they’re hiding the other number. If 17 percent are going to the movies less, what about the other 83 percent?”

Although the 17% of downloaders going to movies less frequently falls right in line with Yankee’s figure of 16 percent, “the MPAA failed to reveal similar Yankee findings that three times as many downloaders reported increased movie attendance,” Lyman quotes Goodman as saying, going on that 43% of movie downloaders reported going to the movies the same amount, while 41% said they were going more.

“These people are more aficionados, and [downloading] has no effect on their moviegoing behavior.”

Goodman also points out that fans watch movies in multiple forms and “often watch the same movie more than once in different forms as well”.

A reported recent 4% drop in attendance could be down to other factors: “You have an increase in dogs – there’s your 4 percent,” Goodman said.

Under ex-boss Jack Valenti, the MPAA became infamous for its creative approach to what’s happening in the real world and it was to be hoped this would improve under the new king, Dan Glickman. Or maybe Jack’s still running things while Dan gets his feet wet?

Let’s hope that’s the case.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 10th, 2004 at 3:03 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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