[b][size=medium][font=Verdana]MTV Is Wary of Videos on War[/font][/size][/b]

[i][size=x-small][font=Verdana]By Neil Strauss
New York Times
March 26, 2003[/font][/size][/i]

Though images of war are dominating television screens, one channel is not having it. The day after the war in Iraq started, a memo was distributed through the offices of MTV Europe by its broadcast standards department.

In the memo, Mark Sunderland, one of the department’s managers, recommends that music videos depicting “war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions” and “other obviously sensitive material” not be shown on MTV in Britain and elsewhere in Europe until further notice.

The memo cites explicit examples. These include videos that relate directly to the war in Iraq, like “Boom!” by System of a Down; videos with bombs exploding, like Billy Idol’s “Hot in the City”; videos with war scenes, like Radiohead’s “Lucky”; and even Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which has scenes from the action movie “Armageddon.”

Taking further cautionary measures, the memo goes on to advise against showing videos in which lyrics, song titles or even band names allude to war, bombs or other “sensitive words.” It mentions the songs “B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad)” by Outkast; “You, Me and World War Three” by Gavin Friday; and anything by the B-52′s.

“I guess MTV doesn’t have a research department, because from Day 1 we’ve said in interviews that our name is a slang term for the bouffant hairdo Kate and Cindy used to wear â€â€? nothing to do with bombers, ” said Fred Schneider of the B-52′s, referring to fellow band members.

Oddly, the memo also mentions “Invasion” by Radiohead, although a spokesman for the band said he was unaware of any song by the group with that title.

A spokeswoman for MTV Networks said that the memo applied only to MTV in Europe. She also said that the videos listed were not banned but simply singled out as examples of the kinds of videos that it is advising against showing. She added, however, without elaboration, that MTV in the United States was also “being responsive to the heightened sensitivities of its audience.”

In the MTV Europe memo, Mr. Sunderland cites as justification the programming code of the Independent Television Commission, the regulatory body for commercial television in Britain. The code sets down rules against programming that “offends against good taste or decency.” The code makes no mention of banning references to war, bombs and planes during wartime, though it does include language against the portrayal of violence during times when children may be watching.

The MTV Europe memo is a stark example of a trend that has been occurring at other radio and music-video outlets in America and Europe as stations become more careful about the content of songs they play during wartime. Yet a company’s policy is not always consistent among its divisions in different countries.

Serj Tankian, the singer in the hard rock band System of a Down, said that MTV in Britain was not showing his band’s new video, “Boom!,” but that MTV in the United States was. (The MTV spokeswoman confirmed this.) The video was directed by the Oscar-winning documentary maker Michael Moore and shows scenes of peace marches around the world. Meanwhile, Mr. Tankian said, the music-video network MuchMusic in Canada is showing “Boom!,” but MuchMusic USA is not.

Georgia Juvelis, a spokeswoman for MuchMusic USA, said that the video had not yet been shown but still might be. It is not being added to the regular rotation but may be added to a show, “Oven Fresh,” in which viewers vote on the videos they want to see.

BBC Radio 1 recently removed the song “Bandages,” by the rock group Hot Hot Heat, from its playlist, fearing that the repetition of the word “bandages” in the song may upset some listeners.

In the meantime several radio promoters at record labels said that the biggest radio conglomerate in the United States, Clear Channel, though known for its conservative policies, had not expressed any overt policy about altering its playlist.

Lenny Kravitz has teamed up with an Iraqi pop star to release an anti-war song.

Kravitz recorded the song We Want Peace with popular Iraqi singer Kadim Al Sahir in Miami last week.

The pair have released the track on the website of Rock the Vote – a national organisation which encourages young people to become involved in politics.

Kravitz said he had chosen to link up with Rock the Vote “because of its strong stance with young people as defenders of free expression.”

He joins a growing list of recording artists releasing protest songs directly to the internet to bypass a cautious radio market.

REM, the Beastie Boys, John Mellencamp and former Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha have all released anti-war songs via the internet in recent weeks.

[img]http://www.mtv.com/shared/media/news/images/k/Kravitz_Lenny/sq-onblue-press-virgin.jpg[/img][img]http://www.neareastmusic.com/Images/Content/kadim.jpg[/img]

The [i]Stripped And Justified[/i] tour of pop heavyweights [b]Justin Timberlake[/b] and [b]Christina Aguilera[/b] is being forced to scale down its venue sizes – because promoters are struggling to sell tickets. According to American website Pagesix, promoters Concerts West are looking for “more intimate” venues, although they deny this. Last Wednesday’s canceled opening gig in Vancouver, Canada was officially called off because of “long delays at the US/Canadian border resulting in insufficient set-up time for the tour’s extensive production”, but Chicago radio station Kiss 103.5FM claim many seats were unsold. The station said at the time, “The 45-city tour, already knocked down from 60 cities, may have to be moved to even smaller venues due to lackluster ticket sales. It’s hard to believe that Concerts West, which has promoted bigger tours by such superstars as the Eagles and Shania Twain, didn’t plan ahead for border issues.” But Aguilera’s manager Irving Azoff insists, “We had 12,000 tickets sold, and we couldn’t get the trucks through the border to get set up. There were some problems with some drivers with old criminal records.”

People were shocked when [b]Jennifer Lopez[/b] fired her long-time publicist. But now she’s really shocking Hollywood by completely cleaning house. She has now fired her manager Benny Medina, who is credited with making her the huge star she is. And then she ditched her agent because she doesn’t like the movies she’s getting. But another story is coming out about the brains behind this operation. Sources say she is not the one controlling [b]Ben Affleck[/b]…it is Ben pulling Jen’s strings. Ben supposedly hates the way the team publicized J.Lo as a diva. But at least one top studio executive says, “It’s a risky move because Jennifer is marginally talented as an actress and even less so as a singer. Yet, she’s one of the biggest stars on the planet. That didn’t happen by accident. That team knew what they were doing.�

[img]http://www.starmatch.com/img/afflecklopezprofile.JPG[/img]

[i]by Richard Johnson
New York Post[/i]

The producer and director of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s upcoming “Tough Love” got into a shouting match after a test screening for the picture left the audience unhappy, sources said.

According to industry insiders, early test audiences responded so poorly to the romantic comedy about a mobster, his lesbian love interest and a young retarded man that producer Joe Roth gave Martin Brest an extra $5 million to reshoot the ending.

But when Brest showed the new, more traditional ending to an L.A. audience the other day, the response was another resounding thud, and tempers went through the roof.

“Joe Roth and Marty Brest got into a huge fight,” our source tells Ian Spiegelman. “Marty said, ‘See, we did it your way, we did your Hollywood ending, and people hated it!’”

Roth “basically” responded, ‘[Bleep] you!’”

But before things got out of hand, Affleck came to the rescue. “Ben and J.Lo heard screaming, so he went outside and broke them up. He had to calm them down,” our source said.

The film has had a troubled history. Its title was changed from “Gigli.” Its release date has been moved back several times. Originally set for a November 2002 launch, it’s now due out in August.

A rep for Revolution Studios has a more gentle account. “There was a creative disagreement among the many people involved with the film,” she said. “The disagreement was not over scenes that were reshot, but over suggested cuts for the final feature.”

It all ended happily, says the rep. “There has now been a meeting of the minds, and everyone has come up with a cut that both par ties are happy with.

“Ben was present during the disagreement but there was no fight to break up and no expletives were exchanged.”

According to a reviewer for the Aint’ It Cool News Web site, everyone involved has plenty to wail about. The pseudononymous critic pronounced the movie “an unreleaseable piece of [bleep]!”

The writer trashed the dialogue, stating that J.Lo delivers a monolgue about her private parts “which is even more degrading and embarrassing than Liz Berkley’s “I am not a whore” speech in “Showgirls.”

“I’m actually surprised that J.Lo didn’t take a stand and say to Brest, ‘You don’t really expect me to say those lines, do you?’”

Controversial Comments Start Phones Ringing

LANCASTER, Pa. — Some controversial comments made by one of the Dixie Chicks has the phones at a local country radio station ringing off the hook.

A number of radio stations across the country have dumped the group’s music over the lead singer’s controversial comments about President George W. Bush.

At a concert in London earlier this week, Natalie Maines, the band’s lead singer said, ” Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”

In a statement on the Dixie Chicks’ Web site Wednesday, the Chicks said, “We’ve been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our government’s position. The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding.”

The country trio — consisting of Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robinson — are all from Texas.

“I feel the president is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world,” Maines added in the statement. “My comments were made in frustration and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view.”

And while Maines maintains her beef with Bush, she’s much more supportive of the United States troops.

“While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost,” Maines said.

Many Susquehanna Valley residents are not happy with the singer’s opinion.

“I think you should boycott them,” said a caller to Cat Country 106.7

A poll taken by Cat Country said nearly 75 percent of its listeners were offended by Maines’ remark.

Even though the Dixie Chicks have the No. 1 song and album in the country right now, many patriotic people in the Susquehanna Valley don’t want to hear them.

“Central Pennsylvania is one of the largest areas for deployment in this country and there’s a lot of military families out there who feel very strong for President Bush, and for her to come out and bash President Bush and say that she’s embarrassed that he lives in Texas, it really hit some hot buttons with a lot of our listeners,” said Dennis Mitchell, with Cat Country.

The station labeled Friday, “Dixie Chick Free Friday,” and it is leaving it up to the listeners to decide how long that will last.