In an unexpected display of breathtaking courage, Johnson & Johnson has launched an advertising campaign heroically endorsing love -- hoping to rekindle our love affair with a decreasingly lovable brand. In the past three years, the company has been fined more than $1 billion, settled multiple regulatory actions and has faced huge lawsuits for a staggering series of failures.

There are many explanations for this world of blunder. One is the idiotic value placed on being first with a shard of previously unreported information, no matter how dubious. Another is physics; in the vacuum of understanding that afflicts live coverage after breaking news, anything that fills the gaping void looks irresistible. The final reason is the most counterintuitive: the news channels have little capacity for actual journalism.

A la carte digitally delivered TV is a non-starter. Except that it's now here. Cord-cutters can now have access to almost everything cable offers at much lower cost.

You can't please everybody, nor should you try. But you can't ignore everybody, either. You do not exist without them. And is there any stakeholder relationship more elemental than a theater and its audience?