O l i v e r B e n j a m i n
on for years was obviously about to be panned, and that Gareth
seemed blithely unconcerned about it.
But he was. Cain’s research had informed him ahead of time that
the piece would be negative, which was exactly what he had hoped
for. This “baby” that they had produced was not meant to be a cute
and cuddly little ball of fat. It was meant to be more of the
Rosemary
’s
Baby
variety: raw and disturbing, but exciting and
addictive as the adrenaline it produced. A derogatory review on a
major news show would provide them with the public interest,
controversy and curiosity that any new product needed to succeed in
market as saturated as mass media was. A middling review would kill
them.
“Gareth Schlechtmann,” Brokaw began the interview, “You have
been alternately described at a visionary and a profiteer. As a genius
and a jackal. As a free-market idealist and a common pusher. Your
new television network, VTV, or
Violence Television
, has been
decried by critics across the globe as the first step towards the
collapse of common morality. Yet, in it has claimed a legion of
devoted fans and regularly boasts some of the highest ratings of any
private television station. As we ring in the new year, tell me what
you feel are the reasons for your success, and what your
accomplishment means to the world as a whole.”
Gareth cleared his throat and adjusted his Armani blazer. “Well
Tom, I’d first like to point out that with the introduction of any bold
new technology, there have always been those who claimed it would
be the end of everything holy. When Gutenberg’s printing press put
the power of the written word in the hands of the masses, the church
was outraged. More recently, people like Henry Miller and Lenny
Bruce suffered censure and condemnation, despite, and perhaps
because of the fact that they produced revolutionary ideas on untried
canvases. Luckily, we in the Western world have recently enjoyed a
great relaxing of censorship, and as such have enjoyed a freedom of
communication unprecedented in history. Still, that doesn’t mean
there aren’t powerful attempts to censor courageous new messages.
Critics and organizations every day try to tell us what is good and
what is bad for us. But fortunately, Tom, the beauty of our
democratic system is that people nowadays can decide for
themselves. And have they ever decided! VTV has boasted a growth
rate higher than any network in the history of media. At this pace,
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