Interesting doc on CBC Newsworld (like the BBC in the UK, or maybe akin
to CNN in the US) ran this eve: "U.S. Media Blues."
Newsworld runs a regular series called "The Passionate Eye" -- which
runs independent documentaries on all sorts of subjects, from any
nation.
I am partial to media analysis and manipulation. This was good. Examined
the various mass media manipulations, comparing it to the Gulf War
incubator baby story and the U.S. media failure to question ALL power.
Doubt it could be viewed in the U.S., though. (And I somehow doubt
Sinclair media is going to pick it up.)
Official blurb I found online on CBC:
U.S. MEDIA BLUES
Monday October 25, 2004 at 10pm ET/PT
"Reporters are not weapons inspectors…it's an absurd
proposition that the press would be able to find these.
I think the press reported on the debate very well."
- Carl Bernstein
"I found the coverage shameful and appalling. And I'm
surprised…anyone would defend it."
- Chris Hedges, war correspondent
New York Times, Dallas Morning News
"The press went into a coma."
- Helen Thomas
Dean of the White House correspondents.
During the Viet Nam war, the adversarial role of the
journalist played a vital role in challenging the U.S
administration's foreign policy and helped end the
conflict. The dirty tricks of Richard Nixon that became
the Watergate scandal were exposed by two dogged young
reporters whose work would help bring down a president.
But times have changed. And now, those two famous
journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, have
publicly supported Bush's war on Iraq, while the rest
of the media has, at least until recently, been less
than challenging of the White House. U.S. Media Blues
offers a provocative and often disturbing look at the
current role of the print and electronic press in the
context of the fiercely fought Presidential campaign.
French filmmaker Yves Boisset asks what has happened to
the combative nature of journalism in today's America?
Have reporters covering the White House, until very
recently, been acting more like stenographers than
journalists? Has the American media turned into
courtiers at the White House and the Pentagon? Embedding
reporters with the military in Iraq may have given the
media greater physical access to battle than ever before
-- but has journalism itself paid a price? Has the
mainstream press been AWOL in being critical of the
White House? Among the prominent journalists addressing
the issue of the media being lap dogs or watch dogs are:
Ted Koppel, anchor for ABC's Nightline; Lewis Lapham,
Editor in Chief, Harper's magazine; Carl Bernstein,
Pulitzer Prize-winner for Watergate investigation; Scott
Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, Iraq; and Jon
Alpert, award-winning investigative journalist.
U.S. Media Blues is directed by Yves Boisset; produced
by Philippe Alfonsi for API Productions.
Ken.
