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LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

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Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#91

Post by azernik »

banku_brougham wrote: post #28

These stories of malfeasance by elected officials, where the representatives act so clearly against their office and the public good, present a conundrum. The campaign contributions even at a national level simply aren’t enough money to incentivize the given level of corruption. I really want to know: what are the incentives? Are there secret payments? I remember Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was convicted for receiving…

For the politician being bribed, the relevant calculus isn't the size of the service done for the briber - it's their perceived risk of discovery and punishment, which is already low enough before taking into account the human tendency to undervalue low-probability risks.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#93

Post by hammock »

Seems like everyone is using the comments to throw shade on Disney, but I'd like to praise the LA Times for publishing good reporting under pressure not to.

Despite not technically being an independent paper (Are there any anymore?) I have long admired the LA Times as one of, if not the only, US paper left that does what seems like independent journalism and is not afraid to call out stories everyone else is ignoring.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#94

Post by azernik »

kelukelugames wrote: post #39

Aren't all video game review sites like this? All AAA games get inflated scores to not offend the studios.

Indeed they do - because video game journalism does not have the same ethical standards (not in the Gamergate sense) that film and literary journalism do.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#95

Post by bduerst »

rs999gti wrote: post #35
eduren wrote: post #5

> Disney CEO Bob Iger is said to have ordered the retaliatory measure against the LA Times, and is also thought to be considering a 2020 presidential bid, which augurs poorly for his approach to the free press. Wow, I hadn't heard this was a possibility until now. I sure am looking forward to seeing which of the many {m/b}illionaires ends up winning the presidency in 2020! How about we just cut out the middlemen and…

> Most money offered gets to be president. But even that doesn't work. In 2016 for the US presidency, Hillary Clinton's campaign had $790M USD versus Donald Trump's $408M USD. She had double the money 'to buy the presidency' and she still lost. https://www.opensecrets.org/pres16

It worked for Scott Walker in the Wisconsin recall. He outspent his opponent 10:1 to win only by a couple points.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#97

Post by eregorn »

adamnemecek wrote: post #72
kelukelugames wrote: post #39

Aren't all video game review sites like this? All AAA games get inflated scores to not offend the studios.

The main difference is that gamers are much better connected than movie goers I think. This sort of behavior might not have as many repercussions for movie studios as it does for gaming studios.

"better" doesn't seem a good description for the gaming community's connection to studios. In many cases, gamers themselves might even strong-arm media outlets for studios with or without permission, hence the inflated scores. The recent fake review on Mario Odyssey comes to mind.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#98

Post by gooseus »

banku_brougham wrote: post #11
eduren wrote: post #5

> Disney CEO Bob Iger is said to have ordered the retaliatory measure against the LA Times, and is also thought to be considering a 2020 presidential bid, which augurs poorly for his approach to the free press. Wow, I hadn't heard this was a possibility until now. I sure am looking forward to seeing which of the many {m/b}illionaires ends up winning the presidency in 2020! How about we just cut out the middlemen and…

Reminds me of the short lived reign of the emperor who purchased his title. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didius_Julianus

Ha, I specifically remember this as one of my favorite episodes from the History of Rome Podcast[0] by Michael Duncan (#98 in linked list[1]).

Of some relevance is his new book that just came out, The Storm Before the Storm[2], which details the events that preceded the rise of Julius Caesar and paved the way for him to overthrow the republic.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Rome_(podcast)

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ancientrome/comments/32lono/every_e...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Before-Beginning-Roman-Republic...

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#99

Post by steinuil »

adamnemecek wrote: post #72
kelukelugames wrote: post #39

Aren't all video game review sites like this? All AAA games get inflated scores to not offend the studios.

The main difference is that gamers are much better connected than movie goers I think. This sort of behavior might not have as many repercussions for movie studios as it does for gaming studios.

That's not necessarily true, lots of gamers are just casual gamers who will only buy the blockbusters, just as with movies, and will probably not go beyond checking the metacritic score before buying, or even worse they will preorder it before the reviews are even out.

I think the main difference is that AAA games are much more expensive than a movie ticket, so the percentage of people who do this is lower.

Re: LA Times barred from Disney movies after report on corporate welfare

#100

Post by eksu »

drawnwren wrote: post #60
sgift wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I risk to devolve this into a flame war, but I think it would be a good idea to wait what Muellers investigation finds with regard to influences on the presidential election, so money spend by third parties to help get someone elected can be attributed to the corresponding campaign.

You are correct. This information would be useful, but surely we can't limit it to just one other country and one campaign?

Surely we shouldn’t investigate every country in the world in regards to every election we’ve had?
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