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We mentioned yesterday that MTV will be broadcasting from Barack Obama’s Youth Inaugural Ball next Tuesday, in a program that will feature musical performances and live coverage of Obama’s remarks to the ball’s attendees.
This morning the Washington Post is reporting that MTV paid $650,000 for that privilege.
According to the Post, the Obama inaugural committee sold exclusive broadcast rights to four inaugural events to four different networks — three of them on cable.
The most expensive event was Sunday’s Lincoln Memorial concert, which HBO paid $2.5 million to carry. HBO says it is “encouraging” cable and satellite providers to make the event available free of charge to non-subscribers, but many households will be unable to view it even so. Some providers carry the network on digital cable channels only, further restricting access.
In the creepiest bit of merchandising, the committee sold the rights to a prime-time Monday children’s concert to Disney. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden will host the concert, at which various Disney Channel stars will perform.
Ew.
January 21 Update: Obama’s remarks at the youth inaugural can be seen here.
MTV has cancelled its planned inaugural ball, and will instead broadcast live from the official Obama youth ball on inauguration night.
The MTV special, “Be the Change: Live from the Inaugural,” will feature live footage of Obama’s remarks at the Youth Inaugural Ball, as well as musical performances from that event.
Be the Change will run simultaneously on all American MTV networks at 10pm Eastern time on Tuesday, January 20, and will be made available to all of MTV’s affiliates worldwide as well.
January 17 Update: Turns out MTV paid the inaugural committee more than half a million bucks for the exclusive rights to Youth Ball footage.
January 21 Update: Obama’s remarks at the youth inaugural can be seen here.
About four hundred Greek police officers gathered in Athens on Thursday to the strains of the Beatles song “Let It Be, “carrying a banner that read “No To Violence.”
“We are protesting because we are part of society,” one officer said. “Violence against the Greek police is violence against Greek society. We’re against any kind of violence.”
Student and youth riots have convulsed Greece since the December police shooting of fifteen-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
The Thursday police rally took place not long before one thousand students staged their own protest in central Athens. Although some of those protesters threw rocks and oranges at police, there was no police response and the march ended without violence or arrests.
A sit-in protesting the current Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip is underway at the prestigious London School of Economics.
About forty students have been occupying the LSE’s Old Theatre since last night. They are demanding that the LSE…
- condemn the Israeli attack on Gaza and demand a ceasefire,
- divest from BAE Systems, a company that provides weapons to the Israeli military,
- provide five new scholarships to Palestinian students at LSE,
- conduct a fundraising campaign for the Medical Aid for Palestinians charity,
- donate surplus books and computers to Gaza educational institutions, and
- conduct no repraisals against protesting students.
The university released a formal response to the demands expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza while declaring that it “will not take a position” on the Israeli military action itself.
Passage of the DREAM Act has been voted one of the top ten agenda items for the Obama administration by members of change.org. The DREAM Act proposal is the only higher education campaign to make the cut.
According to its change.org sponsors, the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act would open a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who…
- were brought to the United States before they turned 16,
- have lived here continuously for five years,
- graduated from a US high school or obtained a GED
- have good moral character with no criminal record, and
- attend college or enlist in the military.
Here’s an article on the campaign to get the DREAM Act into the top ten and a link to DreamActivist, a site that supports passage of the bill.
President-elect Obama is on record in support of the DREAM Act. A statement of support he provided to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities last year follows the jump…
studentactivism.net 
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