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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

But now, from beyond the grave, Gawker is revealing another reality in this era of media consolidation: that the chief executive of one of the biggest companies in the world, who testifies before Congress and negotiates with China, also decides what television shows get made.

I'm having a little trouble with the premise of this story, that it's somehow novel for an executive to have a hand in killing a show. This is like 40% of the premise of 30 Rock. But that was about the Sheinhardt Wigs hegemony over NBC (and tri-vection microwaves), not Tim Cook's influence over a tiny portfolio of streaming shows nobody watches.

As long as he doesn't fuck with Ted Lasso, I honestly don't give a shit. I'm sure I'll buy another Apple product in 2021, which will re-up my Apple TV+ subscription somehow.

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> I honestly don't give a shit

> I'm sure I'll buy another Apple product in 2021

I am quite sure not many people care if you buy another Apple product this year or the text; I am very sure I don't give a shit whether you give a shit.

This story is not about you or your buying habits. It is about the fact that concentration of power and money in the hands of a few tech executives is killing news stories, information about the world (not some comedy show).

The fact that it may not be novel doesn't make it unimportant. Crime is as old as time; it doesn't mean we shouldn't care.

>It is about the fact that concentration of power and money in the hands of a few tech executives is killing news stories, information about the world (not some comedy show).

as opposed to the old status quo, where stories would get killed by a few non-tech executives. This is just a power struggle between old media and new media. The general public has no reason to give a shit.

To most people canceling a tv show isn't 'crime' and gawker isn't 'news'

> This story is not about you or your buying habits. It is about the fact that concentration of power and money in the hands of a few tech executives is killing news stories, information about the world (not some comedy show).

Like how the New York Post’s Twitter account was disabled for about 2 weeks because of a story they ran?

There will certainly be more outrage about Gawker than the Bidens. Polls show most weren't even aware of Biden accusations, let alone the facts.

It's the confluence of executive authority that folks are sketched out by, not the executive authority or actions themselves, imo.

You know Jack Donaghy testified before congress too, right?

Without really taking a position on the merits of the issue, I think the idea is that Jack Donaghy might testify before Congress about the television shows he runs, while Tim Cook testifies before Congress about matters unrelated to television.

He testifies representing GE!

Fair enough.

You, uh, known 30 Rock isn't a documentary right? :P Great show, though.

GE really did own NBC.

I do but I'm not really sure what your point is. Anti-trust is anti-trust no matter who's doing it or has done it in the past, no matter who made a comedy about it after.

Further, I suspect the emotional reaction here comes from Apple playing a much larger role in the public's mind than General Electric.

> Further, I suspect the emotional reaction here comes from Apple playing a much larger role in the public's mind than General Electric.

This tends to support tptacek's point here, that this is a normal thing to be going on and people are exercised more because they are conditioned to have fainting spells over the name "Apple" than because Apple is doing something different than what's always been done.

This is like defending underhanded sales practices by pointing out that Mitch and Murray paid good money for those leads.

I don't know that I'm defending it so much as pointing out how hinky it is to single out what's happening at Apple TV+ when the entire rest of the industry runs on exactly the same kind of executive influence, with the difference being that people actually watch stuff the rest of the industry produces.

If anything, the misleading part of my comment was the suggestion that this was a 30 Rock premise --- it's the premise of a pretty solid chunk of all late night NBC comedy in the 1990s, too, because GE actually did own NBC.

The premise is simple, the current trend in the news media is big tech is too powerful and too much influence over the public which is something the news media used to have in total. So stories which portray big tech as the bad guy are par for the course.

Social media alone proved to the world over how much the press can manipulate a story to the point of outright fraud by major news organizations. Well the news media isn't taking that attack sitting down and finds every opportunity it can to reign in big tech, restricting what can they can say and do directly or facilitate through their services to prevent their customers from doing the same.

This article fails on purpose to acknowledge the Tim Cook only killed the show for his network. Another network can make the show if they want. Now if Apple or Tim Cook were getting in touch with other studios and threatening them that would be a real issue but what we have here is not

Seasons 2 and 3 of Ted Lasso are locked in, season 2 is expected in August.

> As long as he doesn't fuck with Ted Lasso, I honestly don't give a shit.

    First they came for "Firefly", and I did not speak out - 
        Because I did not watch "Firefly".

    Then they came for "Community", and I did not speak out - 
        Because I did not watch "Community".
    
    Then they came for "Ted Lasso" - and there was no one left to speak out for "Ted Lasso".

Why "there was no one left to speak out"? Did they kill the viewers, as they did Communists/trade unionists/Jews in the original quote?

(As a side note, this may be funny and witty and all, but there's a term named "Trivialization of Holocaust", you might want to look it up.)

your comment is trivial. there are no holocaust survivors reading this page of hacker news. it’s not going to “happen again” or be “forgotten” because someone swaps the words of a phrase everybody knows. spend your energy on something else other than ruining the internet, making us self censor every little thing typed online. lest someone who had nothing to do with the event or problem take offense on behalf of others.

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