MPAA lies about DVD seizure, AP embarrassed
The movie industry has a history of exaggerating the threat from technology — the VCR, DVD, TiVo, etc. were all going to destroy entertainment as we knew it.
But now the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has been caught in a bold-faced lie.
Unfortunately, also caught was the Associated Press, which obviously didn’t do a very good job of reporting.
The MPAA sent out a press release claiming that it “and the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) in coordination with the Southern California High Tech Task Force have closed New Century Media in the City of Industry, California.”
It also claimed to have seized “$30 million in illegal stampers and DVDs” and that “[t]he plant was closed for illegal business on June 15.”
For reasons unknown, the AP didn’t actually check out this claim and ran the story.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be wildly innaccurate — something the AP reporter could have discovered had he or she spoken to New Century Media rather than simply quoting its Web site.
See, New Century Media released a statement of its own. It read:
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 21, 2005–The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) yesterday issued a news release that contained false and misleading information regarding a search that was conducted by the Southern California High Tech Task Force at the offices of New Century Media in the City of Industry, CA., according to Jennifer Yu, owner of New Century Media.
“We fully cooperated with this investigation because we are a legitimate business that is not involved in any illegal actions,” said Yu. “The MPAA release falsely claimed that the ‘High Tech Task Force stamped out an illegal DVD/CD replicating plant.’ This is categorically not true. Our business is to duplicate material for customers who own the copyright and material that is in the public domain. By these false allegations, the MPAA has slandered our name and reputation and damaged the business that my husband and I spent 14 years to build,” Yu stated.
Specific inaccuracies in the MPAA release cited by Yu included:
– New Century Media Corporation (www.newcenturymediausa.com) is NOT an illegal DVD/CD replicating plant as cited in the release headline. It has been in business since 1989 and reproduces thousands of titles per year. It operates 24/7 with a daily capacity of 80,000 DVDs. DVDs taken by the Task Force represent LESS than 1/10th of 1% (0.058%) of annual production.
– New Century Media Corporation was NOT closed down as stated in the MPAA release and again in a quote from Senior Vice President John Malcolm. The High Tech Task Force permitted production to start again immediately.
– For reasons completely unknown, the High Tech Task Force took approximately 2,440 sets of Genius Products, Inc.’s 6 DVD Romance collection. Genius is a public company that distributes entertainment products to national retailers. Check http://www.babygenius.com/shopping.aspx for more information.
– The total value of items removed was $10,540 in DVDs, plus 24 stampers valued at $3,600 each or $15,000 - MPAA’s claim of $30 million was inflated by 2,000%.
Why the MPAA lied, I don’t know. But I do know that once a person or organization resorts to this kind of blatant, outright lies, it usually means its underlying argument is so faulty that it can’t stand on its own.
If you have to lie, the truth obviously isn’t in your favor.
