As a corrective on my piece today on the Hollywood writers' strike, in which I notice that the media's sympathies seem clearly on the side of the writers, Rob Long, the TV writer and producer and National Review contributor, says, Hold on a minute:

The real player here, aside from all of the nonsense celebrity coverage, is Variety, which relies on studio advertising, but is also the last word around here for news and analysis. So it matters to the writers if Variety seems to be tilting to the studios.

The truth is, Variety seems generally pessimistic about the chance that the writers have to make a good deal. They're skeptical of the guild's claims to have a lot of leverage, and a lot of writers don't like to read that. Even if it's true.

Long might be onto something, as my take was, well, decidedly pessimistic.

And given some of the coverage of the Directors Guild of America's recent compromise with the studios — the common reaction seems to go something like, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?!" — it appears the media is generally growing exhausted with the strike. Typical.