MTV, which launched an anti-hate crime campaign last month that included the airing of a potent film about the murder of Matthew Shepard, has found itself the object of a backlash by racists and homophobes, the Washington Post reported today (Thursday). "The haters come out of the woodwork," Nicholas Butterworth, who heads up MTV's Internet operations , told the newspaper. Butterworth indicated that MTV is reluctant to remove many of the postings (although he admits that the company has pulled some of them) because "The best way to deal with hateful attitudes is to expose them so people can see how strong and violent they are." But Patricia Aufderheide, professor of communication at American University, told the Post that MTV's Internet site is in need of a moderator. Its chat area, she said, "looks like just a place for people to sound off and often sound off in ugly ways. MTV needs to take more responsibility in that chat area if they want anything good to come out of the discussions."

Source: Studio Briefing