Otterblog

Now that our funny pages fight has abated for the time being, we can return to other matters. Notice I didn’t say other more serious matters. The comics are serious, as we rediscover every time we change them.

Some of you may have heard about a little movie coming out today. It’s something like the Da Vinci Code? It’s supposed to be based on a book? Seriously, this is one of those perfect storms of media and entertainment that raises a lot of questions about the role of newspapers in an increasingly fragmented media marketplace.

It was hard to turn around during the last two months and not be bombarded with something about DVC. Whether it was snippets of Tom Hanks’ long and oiled hair-do or members of Opus Dei defending themselves and the Catholic Church, there have been bazillions of stories: about the movie, about the role of a novelist and higher truths, even stories about the stories. You have to believe that an executive with Sony is somewhere folding his hands together and stating in a Mr. Burns-like manner “Excellent.”

So what did the Journal do? A couple of things. First, we decided that DVC is a big event, and one that we didn’t want to be excluded from. Two, we realized that our best purpose was not to rehash the endless stories that people could get from Entertainment Tonight or Time magazine. True to our mission, we took a local approach, talking to local clergy and others about why—for all the hoopla—this isn’t another Passion of the Christ. And we let readers tell us what they thought.

One thing is for sure: the conspiracy movement is alive and well in America. If you assert something as fact, then get a major organization to go ballistic and attack it, there are a fair number of people who think the enormity of the denial points to a kernel of truth.