Summary: In an environment increasingly dominated by network ratings and tabloid-driven stories, the line between journalism and entertainment is blurred. In this program, correspondent Hedrick Smith goes behind the hype and the headlines to show how the media affect the national agenda and the standards of political debate. Network personalities Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Brit Hume, and Eric Engberg;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: It's newspapers, magazines, and books versus blogs, webzines, and e-books in this program as host Jian Ghomeshi addresses issues ranging from the popularity of citizen journalism, to the growing shift in advertiser dollars from print to the Web, to the whole Google Book Search controversy. Multiple points of view are represented by blogosphere luminaries Cory Doctorow and David Pescovitz (Boing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: With his vast media empire, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is Italy's richest man. This Wide Angle documentary explores questions about the independence of the Italian media under Berlusconi, analyzing the effect of his combination of political power and personal ownership of a large sector of the press. Clearly illustrating the impediments that the Berlusconi machine placed before the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some stories are simply too good to be true. In this program, John Kampfner, political editor for the New Statesman (London), skewers heroic reports of the ambush, capture, and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, calling them misrepresentations designed to bolster wavering support for the Iraq War. Kampfner also scrutinizes the controversial practice of embedding members of the news media in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In al Qaeda's global jihad against the West, videos of smiling suicide bombers and insurgent ambushes have become as important as the attacks they glorify. This program illustrates in chilling detail how Islamic extremists use the power of the Internet and the network sound bite. From the markets of Baghdad, where brightly packaged jihadist DVDs are snapped up by young consumers, to the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Wide Angle documentary goes behind the scenes at al-Jazeera's broadcast headquarters in Qatar during its nonstop coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The program highlights the Arab-language network's differences from its Western counterparts, yet also illustrates striking similarities between al-Jazeera's media sensibilities and those familiar to most Americans. The flow of world events...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Do TV viewers find any real differences when they switch between the major news networks? How rigorous is the reporting? Has subservience to corporate interests replaced true journalism? This program explores the emergence of alternative media in the form of blogs, satellite broadcasts, and documentaries that examine rarely visited yet vital issues. Focusing on the political arena and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: How should the news media prepare for and cope with a potential bioterrorist attack? In this Fred Friendly Seminar, Professor Michael Dorf of the Columbia University School of Law and 12 panelists role-play a hypothetical scenario that begins in a city hospital where a spike in a flu-like illness causes the ER staff to confront a chilling possibility: that it is not the flu at all, but...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Center for Media and Public Affairs reports that during the 1990s the homicide rate in the U.S. dropped 50 percent, yet homicide news coverage increased by an incredible 700 percent. In this program, the Center's Bob Lichter and the Threat Assessment Group's Greg McCrary join ABC News anchor John Stossel to examine some of the factors that contribute to the exaggeration of risks and dangers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Twenty-five years after the Islamic Revolution, Iran is struggling for political reform. Some of the most visible signs of struggle can be found in the nation's media. This Wide Angle documentary goes behind the scenes at Shargh, one of Iran's new pro-reform newspapers, illustrating its efforts to report the news without incurring the "blade of censorship"-an ever-present threat from Iranian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How did the heir to a small Australian newspaper become the ruler of a global media empire? How has he altered the face of publishing, broadcasting, media consumption, and even politics? This program examines the career of Rupert Murdoch, focusing on his creation of highly successful media establishments at the expense, many say, of substance and journalistic integrity. Outlining Murdoch's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This volume looks at writing from the perspective of agents, editors, and publishers. It begins with a Q&A segment that spells out how to secure an agent. Moderated by agent Betsy Amster, the panel-BJ Robbins, Julie Barer, and Elyse Cheney-fields questions including What do you like to see in a query letter? and What is a good way to find the right agent? A panel featuring editors Ann Close and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although advances in telecommunications and computer technology have changed the way news is covered and written, the role of the journalist-to gather the facts and report the news in a way that will engage a mass audience-has remained the same. In this program, staff members of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, the Rocky Mountain News, and The Denver Post talk about...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005