I’m sure most of you know that I get most of my news from other sources. Some I look for, and some come to me. Yesterday, I received an email that informed me that the Vanguard news show was doing a news special called “Porn 2.0”. I’m not certain how I got on this person’s email recommendation list, but I decided to watch the news special. This would probably the first time that I mentioned porn on this website. The special talked a lot about how technology has changed the porn industry.

Now, this is the point in which I could get all preachy about porn, but honestly, you have heard it before. I believe that one of the missions of any reporter is to be a “fly on a wall”, and that you simply tell the world what you see. Therefore, Vanguard reported the porn industry just like it would any other business. Clearly, it wasn’t like how Christians would have reported on it.

Just to let you know, Vanguard did a good job of showing that porn isn’t made in some nightmarish dark warehouse of a building in the inner city. Many of the porn businesses look like any other business, and essentially have the same office policies and politics as the one you work in. I guess that is a little refreshing, but Vanguard ignores the effects of pornography entirely.

That is the number one reason that I don’t recommend it, but I’m sure my lack of recommendation is just going to make you all the more curious. If you just have to see it for yourself, by all means, there is a sneak preview on Hulu right now. The full episode will be available this evening, and here is a link if you want to see it. I think it is the same show, though.

Be warned that this news special is pretty graphic, but much of the stuff that they can’t show on TV has been blurred out. It gets a little graphic with occasional shots of women wearing thongs, but you can show that on a PG movie, right?

Anyway, Vanguard reported that the porn industry is dying. Now, before you start singing “Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead”, you should know why. Apparently, it is because of the Internet. That’s right, all those serious pornographers who made some “story-driven porn” have essentially been done in by those people on the Internet who bombarded the Web with whatever they feel a need to shoot. The Internet led to porn becoming grosser and grosser because independent pornographers constantly tried to one-up each other.

This also led to the rise of “gonzo porn”, where the viewer isn’t watching an X-rated films with occasional sex scenes, but simply skipping to the part with the sex scene. Many of these scenes are ripped illegally from copyrighted material. Since most people get their porn for free, it has affected those whose business it is to make it. This is why the porn industry is in trouble. Of course, aren’t all businesses in trouble due to the economy, or something?

The preview/ news report I saw ended with some ideas of how technology will change the porn industry. The reporters went on location at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, which they say is the largest porn gathering in the nation. I am familiar with this Expo because it occurs every January right next to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the nation’s biggest electronics show that I attend every year. (By the way, I just got confirmation that I will be attending CES this January, and yes, it does bother me that this porn convention is right next to CES.)

Assuming the reports of Vanguard were at the Adult Entertainment Expo last January, that makes their footage almost over a year old. Do not be fooled in thinking that what they showed was the “latest” in adult entertainment with the 3D and interactive stuff. It may have been what was popular at the Expo that year.

Porn 2.0 did mention that the industry is probably taking a more interactive approach. They focused on an adult film star who constantly updates her website with video footage and Twitter. You want to know what is funny? Evangelists could learn a lot from watching how the porn business markets.

Of course, I do have to disagree with the statement at the end of the report. It focused on some guy who was worried about the porn industry, but he also knew that it would survive because “people gotta jack off”.

Uh…no they don’t.