April 7, 2009

Is Reviewing Leaks Immoral?

Courtesy 20th Century Fox.

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Via Variety comes the news that Fox News entertainment columnist Roger Friedman was fired yesterday for reviewing a leaked version of the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie (or, as I call it, Double the Wolverine, Double the Hotness) last Thursday. The internet leak drew attention for two reasons; one, because it was so far in advance of the film’s anticipated May 1 release date, and two, due to its quality, as it was apparently an early studio cut and not a “hand-held camera in a theater” style copy. Friedman’s review has since been removed, but it caused ire among hardcore fans as well as at Wolverine studio 20th Century Fox (a division, like Fox News, of everybody’s favorite media conglomerate News Corp.). In far less significant but oddly coincidental news, the morning show at my old alma mater LIVE 105 was fired last week and rumors are flying that it was due to their playing 30 seconds of a track from the upcoming Green Day album. Have media companies reached the breaking point with this gol-durned internet and its leaky tubes?
 

It’s a little creepy, because reviewing early leaks of albums has become standard practice at respectable blogs. In our defense, recent history has shown that album leaks are generally reliable and final versions of the album in question (although not always), unlike the Wolverine leak which was apparently an unfinished cut. Moreover, like I’ve complained about before, America is often a far-flung hinterland when it comes to new music from the rest of the world, with chart-topping albums from Sweden or Mali taking months or years to reach our shores. Even then, release dates are notoriously tenuous. More than anything, with early reviews so omnipresent in the blog-o-town, nobody wants to be left behind. But are we, and was Friedman, committing an art crime? And if so, how much control should the critic allow the media conglomerate who decides the release dates, and how can the critic respect artistic (and commercial) rights while also acknowledging, you know, reality? I’m just glad I didn’t download the Wolverine leak, but I refuse to watch that in anything but the highest possible definition. Ahem.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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