Clarion Content

David Letterman and his company, Worldwide Pants, settled with the striking Writers Guild of America. Writers are returning to work on the "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson." Letterman was able to negotiate his own settlement because Worldwide Pants owns the two shows. Letterman is himself a thirty year veteran of the Writers Guild of America. Actors have been reluctant to cross picket lines on other talk shows that have resumed production without striking writers.

Letterman's company agreed to critical provisions about their writers entitlement to a share of future internet revenues. This is the red line that the networks refuse to cross. They want to keep both the goose and the golden eggs. The Clarion has such different views on intellectual property than the present American standards that it is illogical for us to have a position on the writers' strike. The Clarion heard a snappy comment last week at a dinner party that summed up why fairly well, "You can't throw a veneer of libertarianism on the status quo and expect it to work." (Or even make sense.)

On a visceral level we're happy that Letterman did what he felt was right by his writers.

Labels: Pop Culture