September 22, 2005

I agree with you, Jay, that fragmentation is a good thing insofar as it provides people with more choice. "Good Night, and Good Luck" focuses on an elected official who used his position to discredit others with inuendo and misinformation. He didn't appreciate or respect the difference between dissent and diloyalty. This is incredibly relevant today. For example, according to this administration, if we disagree with the Iraq War, we are not patriotic.

According to McCarthy, if we disagreed with his specious allegations against innocent people, we were Communist sympathizers and unworthy of holding a job or anything else.

This got way out of hand - as it threatens to get today, 50 years later. And it was the media - specifically Ed Morrow and his producer Fred Friendly - who had the guts to expose McCarthy.

Today, one wonders whether the media - now part of major corporate entities facing great consequences for taking on any segment of the government - would have the guts to do anything about a McCarthy. AND - and this was Brian Williams' point - if only one network took on a McCarthy, would it have a large enough audience to create the necessary impact?

A Lovely Example of Collaboration

We were talking about collaboration yesterday. And I just read this great little anecdote about collaboration in the music business.

Harold Arlen was a remarkable composer, who wrote numerous legendary songs like "I've Got the World on a String," "That Old Black Magic," and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."

He wrote the songs for "The Wizard of Oz" with lyricist E.Y. Harburg. The movie needed a special ballad that would take Dorothy from black-and-white Kansas to colorful Oz. Arlen struggled with the song and finally came up with something to which Harburg wrote lyrics.

They played it for their dear friend, lyricist Ira Gershwin. Finding is so beautiful, Gershwin cried. But he thought the song ended too abruptly and needed a coda, which he then improvised for the composer: "If happy little bluebirds fly/Beyond the rainbow/Why oh why can't I."

It sure makes sense to listen to the advice of your peers!