http://www.gothamist.com/2004/12/09/nyc_gets_historical_the_city_partners_with_the_history_channel.php All comments for NYC Gets Historical: The City Partners With The History Channel en-us 2007 nyc_daveh Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:32:49 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss daveh@gothamist.com daveh@gothamist.com 60 http://www.gothamist.com/2004/12/09/nyc_gets_historical_the_city_partners_with_the_history_channel.php#comment-36960 http://www.gothamist.com/2004/12/09/nyc_gets_historical_the_city_partners_with_the_history_channel.php#comment-36960 Comments Fri, 10 Dec 2004 01:23:42 -0500 <p>Create an "official" history center? What is the Gotham Center? What is the New-York Historical Society? Who are the borough historians? I remember the bad old (recent!) days when the History Channel offered to pay for copies of my "hot dog" research for "History on a Bun." Yeah, thanks--hundreds of hours of research, and they'd maybe give me A NICKEL for whatever photocopy they'd use. And the History Channel stiffed me on the nickel, too! There are things that the mayor could be doing to preserve NYC history that would cost almost NOTHING. Honor Audrey Munson (our Civic Fame model-see Wikipedia), for example. But the History Channel won't do that. We'll get 9-11 24-7. We'll get the stuff that everyone already knows. The Hitler-Civil War "greatest hits" history. It will be bad, cheap, made-for-television "history." There's a chance that the History Channel could change its spots, but I doubt it. Government must get out of this game. Leave the advertising space on buses and trains to highest bidders--not "official sponsors" of "our history." When I see that first big apple, I'm gonna be sick...</p>