> The show's cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms [...] face
Yes. Such a challenge to choose between censorship and their own business interests.
It's like the "challenge" to decide whether to do the right thing or not. Don't we have another word for that kind of "challenge"?
I have no idea why Apple even is in the content business at all, it's a low-margin business at best that requires continuous investment or the viewers will go somewhere else. It doesn't even help retain people in their ecosystem as they make apps for other platforms.
Apple should be pulling away from China as fast as possible; maybe invest in India or in Southeast Asia.
China’s handling of COVID showed how vulnerable global supply chains were, and their censorship regime shows that they are not aligned with anyone with typical western values of freedom of expression.
It seems to me that Tim Cook is chasing sunk costs.
Could it be low ratings and this is face saving attempt by Jon?
There was another thread on this where several people said the show was painful to watch / not enjoyable.
Do a lot of people watch it?
> highlights a problem for Apple content
Highlights a problem with reliance on a big centralized distributor with an editorial policy and a conflict of interests.
Perhaps he should start a podcast, like so many others have done :-)
The incredible part is this has been going on for many decades. The things we see and read in mainstream media are heavily censored to give only one side of any story, and not to tell stories that goes against the party line. (The party in this case being money)
Years ago Discovery Channel were told NOT to allow Mythbusters to do an episode on credit card RFID security [1]
Murdoch owns so many publications around the world who are not allowed to run stories about things he doesn't agree with, Bezos owns the Washington Post, etc. etc.
It's manipulated all the way down.
[1] https://www.networkworld.com/article/2275605/was-mythbuster-...
It would be interesting if there was a podcast type model for video. I guess technically it's all there, and there is, but it's just not popular enough.
The significant part about podcasts (compared with say youtube) is that distribution can be independent, listening (watching) to podcasts is not tied to any single platform.
Not sure who to laugh at or blame here really? Do I fault Apple for being a rational profit maximizing entity that thought that perhaps Jon’s show might hurt that goal or do I fault Jon who chose to put the show on Apple TV+ knowing full well they were a giant corp with lots of revenue from China? I mean, he should have known better, no?
Maybe Apple said all the right things at the beginning and then changed their tune. Either way it sucks because I liked the show a lot.
> The show's cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges owners of platforms (like Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) face when they are producing content, too. Apple TV+, the iPhone, and other Apple products are used by a wide range of people, and investing in content that may be contentious for key customers or partners could create big problems for the company's overall business
Or better (my remix, so to speak)...
The show's cancellation is indicative of the kinds of challenges consumers face not knowing how much the content producers and platforms control and influence what is - or more importantly is not - spotlighted. In order to mitigate the possibility of big problems for said company's overall business the incentive is to keep consumers as ignorant and distracted as possible. The less consumer know, the less consumer think, the better.
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It's important to point out that democracy can't exist in information darkness (i.e., lack of transparency and completeness). And yet it's these gate keepers who are so quick to promote "threat to democracy" narratives that somehow always seem to fail to mention their own willing and intentional efforts in to limit information.
Apple wants to be like Disney, totally unoffensive and unopinionated. Their only religion is money
I expect Jon Stewart would rise to the opportunity to complain about content partnerships with China among other things. The question long term is if someone takes money from big tech to fund a content studio will there be long term bad consequences or will the audience rebel to the content creators side.
Related:
Most of this covered in previous discussions and stories this week
Maybe it is as bad as it appears. Something does feel off in their content, Disney-esque.
Or maybe the show had terrible ratings and it wasn't worth the potential grief. Why needle a business partner (China) when there is no upside?
Interesting that this never happened to John Oliver with all of the trash he famously talked about AT&T, and more recently Warner/Discovery. It looks like the bar Apple just knocked their teeth out on was set pretty low.
I am amazed that people feel amused over Jon Stewart insulting a guy over 2A rights.
The guest was respectful, the host was vulgar.
The daily show is looking for a host.
How far can journalists stretch this? He got cancelled by a tv platform exclusively for Apple users. Not exactly the end of the world.
> Stewart and Apple executives "had disagreements over some of the topics and guests," the sources said. Specifically, they claimed Stewart told staffers that Apple execs took issue with planned programming related to both China and artificial intelligence, and noted that with the 2024 US election coming up, there might have been additional opportunities for disagreement then.
Apple's revenue from China is $74 billion, 19% of the total. They also have manufacturing there still, even when they try to separate.
You can insult anyone in the free world except Xi from China and MSB from Saudi Arabia.