Terry Semel, Yahoo's bruised chief executive, used rather bizarre rhetoric in trumpeting the takeover by the Sunnyvale internet giant of an ad network called Right Media. An open marketplace for banner ads is a "democratic model that empowers advertisers," wrote the former Hollywood studio exec on the Yahoo corporate blog. There was another type of democracy at work in the thread spawned by his post, which read much like Pravda readers praising a Politiburo chief. One of the less effusive comments: "Terry, we have complete faith in your leadership. Please stay at Yahoo at least 5 more years."

Contact information for this author is not available.