Address to the Association of American Publishers by Michael D. Eisner
Address to the Association of American Publishers by Michael D. Eisner Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company
Thank you Bob, thank you Association of American Publishers, and thank you Pat Schroeder for inviting me to speak to you.
I was thrilled at the opportunity to address the leaders of the American publishing industry. You are the ones who keep alive and vibrant the precious world of books and magazines ... although, I imagine that there must be times when you wonder where we will find the great writers of tomorrow. For example, a while ago The Washington Post published a sampling of analogies written by high school English students. Here are a few of them.
First there's -- "The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't."
Then there's -- "From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and `Jeopardy' comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30."
Or, how about -- "The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can."
This one leaves nothing to doubt -- "The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play."
Finally, there's my personal favorite -- "Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever."
Of course, every generation worries about the next one, and I am confident that you will uncover the writing talent of tomorrow.
Since I am one of your biggest admirers, it's clear why I'd want to meet with you today. But, I imagine there are those of you who question whether I would have anything relevant to say to you. After all, you are the captains of the American publishing industry ... and I work for Mickey Mouse. So, this is a reasonable question, for which I have four reasonable answers:
First of all, The Walt Disney Company is a publisher, too. Three of our company's businesses are Hyperion Books, Hyperion Books for Children and Disney Publishing Worldwide ... and we publish a wide range of magazines. Also, through our character-licensing deals with book publishers around the world, we reach more children than any publisher in the world.
Second, many of our non-publishing businesses are rooted in the world of books. Most of our classic animated films are based on literature -- from "Snow White" to "Bambi" to "Aladdin" to "Tarzan" to this fall's "Treasure Planet." And, many of our live action films are as well, whether "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Pollyanna," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "The Horse Whisperer" or "The English Patient." What's more, at our theme parks, books are the source for numerous attractions, such as Tom Sawyer's Island, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Splash Mountain. We have a very popular animated character, Belle, whose persona is based on her love of reading. And, as some of you may remember, our very own spokescricket has paid homage to the world of books.
(VIDEO -- Jiminy Cricket singing his book song)
The third reason I have for speaking to you today is that all of us in this room are in the business of communication. I may be involved more in the entertainment side of things, while some of you are involved more in education and information, but the common denominator is communication. And, as I will be discussing, the world of communication comprises a very big tent that comfortably houses all who excel at it.
Fourth and finally, we share a common enemy. And, as it has been said, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." By that measure, we are all friends. But, before I spell out who this enemy is, let me back up to Reason Three and provide you with a brief history of mass communication over the last seven centuries ... or, as I call it, from Gutenberg -- to Gates.
(VISUAL -- Timeline)
Here is the Gutenberg-Gates timeline.
It begins ... in 1455, with Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. Thanks to this technological breakthrough, books became available to the common man.
In 1689 came the first newspaper, a periodical called "The Present State of the New English Affairs."
Now the average Joe could keep abreast of the major events of his day.
Moving right along, we come to the year 1741, when the first magazine appeared, called "A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies." With it came feature stories with in-depth reporting that daily newspapers couldn't offer.
The pace picked up in the late 19th century.
In 1892 came the first motion picture exhibition. 1907 brought the first regular radio broadcasts. In 1927, television arrived. And, in 1975, a guy named Bill Gates started a company called Microsoft that helped transform the computer from a utilitarian office machine into a home appliance that allowed us to enter a world of interactive communication and entertainment.
Of course, the computer is still not a flawless communication tool. Not only does it tend to crash, but software instructions are not always clear for all of us non-technologists.
Consider the young girl whose password for Disney.com is MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto. When she was asked why she picked such a long password, she responded, "Because they say it has to have at least four characters."
As you can see, since 1455, mankind has benefited from a wealth of mass communication inventions. But, this timeline is instructive as much for what didn't happen as for what did. Let's work our way backward to show you what I mean.
When interactive computer entertainment appeared, the pundits pronounced that it would make television obsolete. People were equally sure that television was going to eliminate radio and movies. Radio was seen as a threat to magazines. I have no doubt that newspaper publishers worried that magazines would take away their business. And, it's a safe bet that 17th century book publishers were concerned that daily newspapers would become so popular no one would have time left to read books.
But, the fact is that in not one of these instances did a new communication technology replace an old one.
As historian Daniel Boorstin once said, "We're prone, especially in this fast-moving country, to what I call the displacive fallacy -- to believe that every new technology displaces the old technology; that television will replace radio, that electronic news will displace print journalism, that the automobile will displace the human foot, and that television will replace the book. But each of these new technologies has simply given a new role to the earlier technologies. The development of technology is not displacive, it is cumulative."
I tell you all this because you work in the communication realm whose demise has been most often pronounced. Every new medium was deemed a direct threat to books. Indeed, not only was the advent of the Internet supposed to herald the end of the publishing industry, but it was thought that anybody who still bought books would only be doing it on the Internet ... meaning the end of bookstores as well. The reality is that many bookstores are thriving. Why? Because they started providing such things as a simple cup of coffee, a comfortable chair and a chance to meet other like-minded people ... things Amazon.com simply can't offer.
This kind of creative adaptation has always been the key to survival in the ever-changing world of communication. You can keep looking back down the Gutenberg-Gates Timeline and see how every established technology adapted to the challenge of the new one. Radio stations became more specialized. Magazines became more targeted. Newspapers offered more magazine-like feature stories. And books diversified to include everything from academic tomes to check-out counter romances. The businesses that adapted the best and the most creatively achieved the greatest success. Those that kept their heads in the sand got left behind.
So, I do not lose any sleep worrying about the long-term prospects of Disney's publishing businesses. As long as we keep telling fresh and compelling stories, we will do just fine ... although I do wish we had been the first to connect with that Rowling lady.
What I do lose sleep over is that common enemy we share that I hinted at earlier. I am talking about digital piracy. Throughout the years covered by the timeline, piracy has been a problem, just as theft in all forms has always been a problem. But, in the analog world, creators of content always had an advantage -- the quality of their originals was better than the copies. What's more, the quantity that a publisher or studio or broadcaster could produce could vastly outstrip the output of any pirate operation.
With digital piracy, all this has changed. The thousandth digital copy of a movie or TV show looks as good as the first, and it can be transmitted to millions in seconds over broadband Internet connections.
In this regard, the publishing industry has an advantage ... for the moment. The e-book has yet to find an interface that rivals the printed page. But it's only a matter of time until a suitable user-friendly application arrives. When that day comes, millions of readers will be able to download your latest novel or textbook for free, depriving your authors of their livelihood and removing your incentive to pursue that author's next great idea.
Pat Schroeder and the AAP have worked tirelessly to protect copyright in the digital age ... and you have been wise to learn from the mistakes of the music and movie industries before you. I am aware of your work on standards for electronic publishing -- work that will serve you well in the years ahead. In fact, these standards have allowed a book I wrote to be published as an e-book, starting tomorrow. So I'm as anxious as you are to see that marketplace develop soon.
But, electronic publishing can only develop and thrive if the necessary safeguards are put in place to allow all creators of content to enjoy the rights of ownership of that content. This morning, I testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on this subject. I tried to impress on the Senators that this is not about entertainment; this is about the fairness and the economy. Creative works account for a larger percentage of U.S. foreign sales and exports than most other sectors of our economy, including automobiles, aircraft and agriculture.
But, all of this success is threatened by digital piracy.
To be sure, Congress cannot simply make the problem go away. And, we certainly don't need a bureaucratic solution. As everyone in this city knows, for every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
But, the government does have a real role to play. Just as government establishes laws to protect us from theft of physical property, it must establish appropriate laws to protect us from theft of property of the mind. And so, I proposed to the Commerce Committee five guidelines for developing the kinds of technological standards that are needed to protect copyrighted material from digital piracy:
First, the interests of consumers, content owners and device manufacturers all require that there be common technological standards. Common standards will prevent consumers from confronting a bewildering array of confusing and incompatible technologies. Common standards will help create a technologically predictable market to which content owners can bring their movies, books and other works.
Second, the technological standards should not be dominated by any one company and should be open. This should especially be a top public policy goal for Broadband development so that consumers have convenient access to all content from all producers.
Third, the private sector should be given every reasonable opportunity to develop appropriate means of protection for use in a wide variety of delivery devices, such as television, computers, Palm Pilot-like devices, or anything that can receive audio-visual works. Only in the event that the computer companies, consumer electronics manufacturers, software companies and content providers fail to act should the government set standards ... and I am hopeful that the AAP will support this stance. The government can provide an enormous service by setting a firm deadline. Indeed, the threat of direct government intervention is critical to making such intervention unnecessary.
Fourth, the standards that we seek must be consistently adaptable, by being renewable, upgradeable and extendable without the involvement of time-consuming bureaucratic processes.
Fifth, once standards are set, they must be mandated for inclusion in all digital media devices that handle creative content.
Finally, I told the Committee members, it is critical that they take action now. The digital pirates are not waiting to act. Neither can our government.
And, let me make clear to you as I did to our elected officials -- The underlying issue is not old media versus new technology. It is creativity versus theft. As I hope my timeline makes clear, technological innovation has always been the friend of the communication and entertainment industries. It enables new ways for us to connect with our audiences. But, only if we are allowed the right to own what we create.
Throughout history, technology has been key to opening up new markets. It only represents a problem if it is allowed to undermine existing markets by facilitating the widespread unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. This needs to be addressed in harmony with traditional copyright protection laws that have engendered a positive environment for the creation of content for more than 200 years.
Disney will continue to work with organizations such as the AAP and the Motion Picture Association to protect copyright and develop the standards needed for us all to benefit from new technologies, whether that means the e-book to publish your next best seller or broadband distribution to disseminate our next animated feature. Multimedia companies such as ours can do more to encourage productive interaction between the various media, such as book publishers, record companies, television broadcasters, radio stations and movie studios.
By merging our expertise we can quicken our learning curve in this brave new world ... and our combined clout could give us a louder voice to be heard in Congress.
As I said at the outset, we have a common enemy. If we face him together, he will be defeated.
And, I am confident that he will be. Remember, we are all communicators, who foster creativity and innovation ... whereas the pirates are only parasites. They may have a digital tool that provides them a temporary advantage. But, they lack something more important. They are in the wrong while we are in the right. They know this. We know this. Ultimately, the public will know this.
With our combined energies and the support of our government and the public we serve, a way will be found to keep the communication timeline moving forward to new levels of achievement on into the future ... and we will all make Herr Gutenberg very proud.
I thank you.
Johannes thanks you.
--Posted February 28, 2002
Source: The Walt Disney Company
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