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Report: Apple TV+ Show Based on Gawker Media Got Scrapped After Tim Cook Intervened
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China killed 75 million of it's own citizens around 70 years ago, but let's be careful not to paint them in a bad light. Apple would be worthless without access to China's cheap labor.
Yes, but I liken the situation to blaming Facebook if person X outs person Y on Facebook. Nobody wants to talk about the fact that no matter how you slice it, a gay person outed another gay person. The escort contacted Gawker & sent them screenshots of texts between himself and the CEO in question.
The whole Gawker thing might be a slippery slope. They did shady things back then.
However with that said sooner or later Apple has to take a stand with their contents if they want to be taken seriously in entertainment. The whole squeaky clean ethos isn’t working out well for them in this field. It results to less than substantial shows.
However with that said sooner or later Apple has to take a stand with their contents if they want to be taken seriously in entertainment. The whole squeaky clean ethos isn’t working out well for them in this field. It results to less than substantial shows.
Wasn't it Gawker that was involved in the incident where a couple of employees thought it would be hilarious to run around a CES trade show with a universal remote control and turn off the TVs in all the exhibitor booths, like a couple of drunken frat boys?
Who said that the doc had to portray Gawker in a good light? They could have easily done the opposit.
That might explain why we spend more on civilian defense contractors building weapons and care less about healthcareIt's always funny to see the difference on what is considered taboo between the U.S and Europe in their Film/TV/Commercial productions.
The U.S is very comfortable with hard-core violence but frowns on nudity.
Europe is very comfortable with hard-core nudity but frowns on violence.
Infer what you like from this
Don't know what Gawker Media is! But it does not matter, this is exactly why I don't and will never use the majority of Apple's services like TV, News, etc. It is not Apple's job to be my nanny. It is not Apple's job to protect me with their value judgements. They want to protect me against people breaking the law, go for it. Otherwise stay out of the way of me and my family.
Why? Because the ultimate end of the slippery slope of increasing protection is a white padded room with food and water delivered through a locked panel in the door. I know this seems extreme, but so did personal travel to the moon a few years ago.
Why? Because the ultimate end of the slippery slope of increasing protection is a white padded room with food and water delivered through a locked panel in the door. I know this seems extreme, but so did personal travel to the moon a few years ago.
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Well I'm sure there are many who would be thrilled at Apple having to have every show pre-OK'd by the CCP in the name of "ensuring access to the largest market and maximizing shareholder value"
Freedom of expression not welcome at Apple. Artistic progressives used to fight behavior like this. Now they extols the virtues of major corporations that shut it down because it’s their right as major corporations. Progressivism has become ”the establishment” that they once railed against. The avant-garde now are non progressive.
I respect Cook’s commitment to privacy, and his achievements. But this sort of thing is why I don’t subscribe to Apple TV. I felt all along that they would produce stuff in a way that did not appeal to me.
However, if others are comfortable with Apple management‘s control over Apple TV content, more power to them.
But I won’t subscribe.
However, if others are comfortable with Apple management‘s control over Apple TV content, more power to them.
But I won’t subscribe.
One could make a valid argument that hard core violence has been a core thinhg of human existance and survival as well.
Whether showing it on TV is a good thing is a different argument.
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" company executives reportedly gave guidance to some show creators to "avoid portraying China in a bad light."
Shocking! Just shocking that Apple would cave to their authoritarian masters in China. I know that Google, Twitter, Facebook et al would never do such a thing.
/sarcasm
Shocking! Just shocking that Apple would cave to their authoritarian masters in China. I know that Google, Twitter, Facebook et al would never do such a thing.
/sarcasm
Organizations, no matter what the say they beleave in, act in tehir own best interest when it comes to chosing whether or not to taken an action that may harm them; principles go out the window at that point.
Senior network execs routinely kill projects they don't like, Apple is no different. Just becasue someone down the chain bought it doesn't mean someone at the top won't kill it.
You do realize that the vast majority of the world does just that? Apple products have always been a niche.
I get China because of it’s hostility to any criticism but what’s Apple’s objection to nudity? Like hardcore nudity is bad but hardcore violence is perfectly fine? Whatever happened to make love not war.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
Yeah, I can see how it's not a day to day decision.
But as a counterexample, when Apple Maps debuted, it was after many months of beta testing in which it was clearly not ready. At no point did Tim Cook apparently notice that. He did apologize after the fact. I've never heard him speak to specific software issues or technologies the way that Steve Jobs did. Steve Jobs maybe was unique in that he was very hands on in specific areas and left a lot of operations to others. It doesn't seem like there's anyone like him at the company now. When the M1 Macs and Big Sur were released, there were a lot of YouTube interviews with lower level Apple execs, which is kind of unusual for Apple, but they all sounded exactly like Tim Cook: like people reading the same information that's on apple.com and like mindless drones, and it was kind of sad and second hand embarrassing (YouTube interviewer: "Am I crazy, or is Big Sur really great?" Apple Exec: "Actually, you're not crazy! You know, you're really perceptive because we set out to make Big Sur really great and we're so happy that it is and that you noticed.")
So when I said I was pleasantly surprised to hear he was involved in television marketing and wish he were in software, I kind of meant in the sense that I have not really heard of him being involved in any software technology or ever really speak to it beyond the general marketing. You used to hear about Steve Jobs liking certain design or tech and pushing it, etc. Now it just seems a bit generic and homogenous, like there isn't a central tastemaker or arbiter of what is good and bad.
I too am disappointed. Big talk about human rights while turning a blind eye to the atrocities in China.
This makes a lot of sense tho, because had they produced/released this show, all of the creative decisions would be scrutinized by the press/reviewers/audience due to the past Apple/Gawker relations. If the writers wanted to stick it to Apple within the show or paint Gawker as a victim etc, and Apple requested/demanded a content change it would be even worse.
Best to cut it out before one creative issue becomes 100 creative issues.
Best to cut it out before one creative issue becomes 100 creative issues.
You’re a garbage human if you could overlook all your son’s myriad accomplishments & be disappointed in them because they’re gay.... ignoring the fact that they helm the most successful company in planetary history.
Sounds to me a lot more like YOU disapprove... not his father.
If true:
Please see 1st sentence to see what that makes you.
Sites like Gawker and TMZ are predatory rag sheet journalism. Violating people’s privacy (from a legal standpoint, not an ethical one, which is bad enough), and just being ruthless in their pursuit of a story was off putting.
That said, I think it’s odd he cancelled the project, or encouraged them to. If it painted them as journalistic martyrs, maybe. But to cancel the project altogether?
That said, I think it’s odd he cancelled the project, or encouraged them to. If it painted them as journalistic martyrs, maybe. But to cancel the project altogether?
Whoa! Well-played high school level condescension and astonishing intellectual heft starting a sentence with "You do realize..."
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
This is an interesting post. I agree with it's passionate idealism.
However, in order to function in the world today you have to be a bit more pragmatic, which I believe is what Apple is attempting to do here.
How many devices does Apple build in China? Or perhaps a better question is: how many devices built in China do YOU own?
If the answer is more than zero then perhaps you are directly financing a totalitarian, communist regime (I personally object to the totalitarian part, not necessarily the communist one, but I digress).
I agree that the line must be drawn somewhere, but my point is that issues like this are nowhere near simple and/or black & white.
All kinds of networks/services/companies cancel or choose not to take on all kinds of projects/products for all kinds of reasons pretty much all the time.