74 journalism professors and journalists signed an open letter addressed to Fox News’ Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch on Thursday, criticizing the network they oversee for its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter stated, in part, “The Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network — false statements downplaying the prevalence of Covid-19 and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities.”
It went on to declare Fox News’ coverage a “danger to public health,” citing various statistics. One survey cited, for instance, came from Pew Research and revealed that 79% of Fox News’ viewers felt the media was overstating the potency of Covid-19, or the coronavirus.
The letter stated, in part, “The Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network — false statements downplaying the prevalence of Covid-19 and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities.”
It went on to declare Fox News’ coverage a “danger to public health,” citing various statistics. One survey cited, for instance, came from Pew Research and revealed that 79% of Fox News’ viewers felt the media was overstating the potency of Covid-19, or the coronavirus.
- 4/3/2020
- by Lindsey Ellefson
- The Wrap
Gremlins (1984)Towards the end of his latest book, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, film critic J. Hoberman highlights Charles Musser’s Politicking and Emergent Media: Us Presidential Elections of the 1890s, a historical study that demonstrated how “the candidate most adroit in deploying new communications technology almost always prevailed.” Extrapolating from this, Hoberman points out Roosevelt’s “successful use of radio,” Eisenhower’s “pioneering TV commercials,” and Kennedy’s victory over Nixon which was secured over televised debate—after which he moves on to Ronald Reagan, the book’s prime player. The final entry in the author’s “Found Illusions” trilogy, Make My Day completes the long-gestating historical project Hoberman started in 2003 with The Dream Life and extended with 2011’s An Army of Phantoms. Thus, it's both a culmination of the author’s considered, career-long engagement with American film culture, and a kind of corollary to Musser’s study,...
- 10/10/2019
- MUBI
Charles Manson, who led deranged followers known as the Manson Family into a series of horrific crimes that haunted Americans for over a generation, died Sunday at a California hospital, after being imprisoned for more than 45 years. He was 83 years old.
Manson was hospitalized Tuesday for an undisclosed ailment. He was serving nine life sentences, most recently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, near Bakersfield.
Debra Tate, the sister of the Manson Family's most high-profile victim, actress Sharon Tate, confirmed to CBS Los Angeles that she had received a call from California State Prison, Corcoran, at about 8:30 p.m. local time, informing her that Manson had died. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation later confirmed the news to Et.
The prosecutor in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi, told CBS News in 2004 that people still asked him about the case 40 years later. "The Manson murder case, unlike any other mass murder case in history, continues to fascinate...
Manson was hospitalized Tuesday for an undisclosed ailment. He was serving nine life sentences, most recently incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, near Bakersfield.
Debra Tate, the sister of the Manson Family's most high-profile victim, actress Sharon Tate, confirmed to CBS Los Angeles that she had received a call from California State Prison, Corcoran, at about 8:30 p.m. local time, informing her that Manson had died. The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation later confirmed the news to Et.
The prosecutor in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi, told CBS News in 2004 that people still asked him about the case 40 years later. "The Manson murder case, unlike any other mass murder case in history, continues to fascinate...
- 11/20/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
By Cate Marquis
Once upon a time, there was a news media covered that politics in a calm, pointedly-neutrally way. Then the televised debate between conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal Gore Vidal happened. Nielsen numbers went through the roof and TV political coverage was never the same. Television news discovered political coverage as blood sport and traded dispassionate reporting for the entertaining fireworks of shouted confrontation and punditry.
In the highly entertaining, engrossing documentary Best Of Enemies, directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon make a credible case for the Buckley-Vidal debates, a political face-off between, intellectual giants with opposing views, as a turning point in how the American media covers politics. The film takes us back to 1968 and the TV broadcasts of the Republican and Democratic political conventions, when these two prominent cultural and intellectual figures debated the direction of the nation.
In 1968, before cable and the internet,...
Once upon a time, there was a news media covered that politics in a calm, pointedly-neutrally way. Then the televised debate between conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal Gore Vidal happened. Nielsen numbers went through the roof and TV political coverage was never the same. Television news discovered political coverage as blood sport and traded dispassionate reporting for the entertaining fireworks of shouted confrontation and punditry.
In the highly entertaining, engrossing documentary Best Of Enemies, directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon make a credible case for the Buckley-Vidal debates, a political face-off between, intellectual giants with opposing views, as a turning point in how the American media covers politics. The film takes us back to 1968 and the TV broadcasts of the Republican and Democratic political conventions, when these two prominent cultural and intellectual figures debated the direction of the nation.
In 1968, before cable and the internet,...
- 8/20/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
If there weren't another flick out there right now taking the title, Morgan Spurlock could have called this documentary about the current state of advertising Insidious.
Is there ever a time when we aren't being hit with imagery inducing us to part with our money? Spurlock asks consumer advocate, Presidential candidate and strawberry enthusiast Ralph Nader. "Yes," Nader responds, "when we're sleeping." (This alone disproves some critics who say Spurlock's films are entertaining, but sometimes devoid of reportorial value - we now know Nader watches Futurama.)
Rather than be an old fuss about it, Spurlock takes a "can't beat 'em join 'em" approach. His million dollar idea (actually, million-and-a-half) is to fund his droll expose on the underside of our entertainment culture entirely with sponsorship money. In a wonderful pretzel of meta-textuality, the act of raising the financing winds up becoming the bulk of the film.
Spurlock's jaunt though boardrooms,...
Is there ever a time when we aren't being hit with imagery inducing us to part with our money? Spurlock asks consumer advocate, Presidential candidate and strawberry enthusiast Ralph Nader. "Yes," Nader responds, "when we're sleeping." (This alone disproves some critics who say Spurlock's films are entertaining, but sometimes devoid of reportorial value - we now know Nader watches Futurama.)
Rather than be an old fuss about it, Spurlock takes a "can't beat 'em join 'em" approach. His million dollar idea (actually, million-and-a-half) is to fund his droll expose on the underside of our entertainment culture entirely with sponsorship money. In a wonderful pretzel of meta-textuality, the act of raising the financing winds up becoming the bulk of the film.
Spurlock's jaunt though boardrooms,...
- 4/22/2011
- UGO Movies
In an exclusive interview in this week's Newsweek, Powell talks to Tony Dokoupil about the origins of the Cookbook, his reinvention as a teacher of diplomats' children, and how he processes the unseemly acts tied to his name.
It's the original guide to "everything illegal," from pot loaf and hash cookies to tear gas, dynamite, and TNT. There are frank tips on demolition, surveillance, sabotage, and the gorier parts of hand-to-hand combat, including how to behead a man with piano wire and make a knife "slip off the rib cage and penetrate the heart." In the introduction, the then-teenage author makes clear his wish that the book be of more than just theoretical use. "I hold a sincere hope that it may stir some stagnant brain cells into action," he wrote.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Al Qaeda's Deadly New Nest
William Powell, author of The Anarchist Cookbook, succeeded all too well.
It's the original guide to "everything illegal," from pot loaf and hash cookies to tear gas, dynamite, and TNT. There are frank tips on demolition, surveillance, sabotage, and the gorier parts of hand-to-hand combat, including how to behead a man with piano wire and make a knife "slip off the rib cage and penetrate the heart." In the introduction, the then-teenage author makes clear his wish that the book be of more than just theoretical use. "I hold a sincere hope that it may stir some stagnant brain cells into action," he wrote.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Al Qaeda's Deadly New Nest
William Powell, author of The Anarchist Cookbook, succeeded all too well.
- 2/23/2011
- by Tony Dokoupil
- The Daily Beast
An Unreasonable Man
PARK CITY -- A heroic crusader to some and the spoiler who betrayed the Democratic Party to others, Ralph Nader emerges as a dedicated, controversial and flawed figure in the documentary, "An Unreasonable Man".
Filmmakers Henriette Mantel, who once worked for Nader, and Steve Skrovan, smoothly integrate reams of material, dozens of insightful interviews as well as archival news footage and, without the use of a narrator, present a coherent, balanced picture of a lightning rod in the political arena.
Doc sustains interest for most of its 160 minute running time, but its length could be an obstacle to getting a theatrical release. PBS or cable TV outlets are possible venues.
The film starts in 1966 when Nader is launched to prominence after he riles General Motors with his attacks on car safety. He accused the automobile industry of selling "psychosexual dreamboats."
Mantel and Skrovan showcase Nader's tireless, forceful advocacy for the rights of the little guy and his own causes, which ranged from transportation safety to drug labeling and clean air. He fought the big boys and usually won. The list of organizations he founded or sponsored and the legislation he was instrumental in passing are impressive.
There are nagging questions about Nader's personal life -- by all accounts he doesn't have one -- and they aren't addressed till later in the film. Even then, little time is spent on the subject. Colleagues say he's married to his work, driven by a sense of injustice and a "never give up, never give in" ethos, a form of absolutism that has made him difficult to work for and harder to leave. Former employees say he was hostile to anyone who stopped working for him.
The film primarily focuses on how and why Nader's bid for the presidency in 2000 antagonized even his most ardent admirers. Many interviewed here are still angry.
What makes this doc so successful is the willingness to present a wide variety of opinions of Nader, a man who inspires intense emotions on both sides of the aisle. Todd Gitlin, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, makes an impassioned case against Nader's misstep in 2000 and again in 2004. Of the former Nader's Raiders, some kept the faith; some are disillusioned, even bitter. There's a bit of levity, too. James Fallows recalls Nader's attack on hot dogs, which were labeled "missiles of death.' Clips from a "Saturday Night Live" show that Nader hosted are, for lack of a better word, surprising.
Editors Alexis Provost and Beth Gallagher cut back and forth between the talking heads so deftly that you have the illusion that Nader is answering his critics in real time in a very lively debate.
An Unreasonable Man
A Two Left Legs Productions
Credits:
Writers/directors/executive producers: Henriette Mantel, Steve Skrovan
Producer: Kevin O'Donnell
Directors of photography: Mark Raker, Leigh Wilson, John Chater, Matt Davis, Steve Elkins, Melissa Donavan, Sandra Chandler
Music: Joe Kraemer
Editor: Alexis Provost, Beth Gallagher
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 160 minutes...
Filmmakers Henriette Mantel, who once worked for Nader, and Steve Skrovan, smoothly integrate reams of material, dozens of insightful interviews as well as archival news footage and, without the use of a narrator, present a coherent, balanced picture of a lightning rod in the political arena.
Doc sustains interest for most of its 160 minute running time, but its length could be an obstacle to getting a theatrical release. PBS or cable TV outlets are possible venues.
The film starts in 1966 when Nader is launched to prominence after he riles General Motors with his attacks on car safety. He accused the automobile industry of selling "psychosexual dreamboats."
Mantel and Skrovan showcase Nader's tireless, forceful advocacy for the rights of the little guy and his own causes, which ranged from transportation safety to drug labeling and clean air. He fought the big boys and usually won. The list of organizations he founded or sponsored and the legislation he was instrumental in passing are impressive.
There are nagging questions about Nader's personal life -- by all accounts he doesn't have one -- and they aren't addressed till later in the film. Even then, little time is spent on the subject. Colleagues say he's married to his work, driven by a sense of injustice and a "never give up, never give in" ethos, a form of absolutism that has made him difficult to work for and harder to leave. Former employees say he was hostile to anyone who stopped working for him.
The film primarily focuses on how and why Nader's bid for the presidency in 2000 antagonized even his most ardent admirers. Many interviewed here are still angry.
What makes this doc so successful is the willingness to present a wide variety of opinions of Nader, a man who inspires intense emotions on both sides of the aisle. Todd Gitlin, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, makes an impassioned case against Nader's misstep in 2000 and again in 2004. Of the former Nader's Raiders, some kept the faith; some are disillusioned, even bitter. There's a bit of levity, too. James Fallows recalls Nader's attack on hot dogs, which were labeled "missiles of death.' Clips from a "Saturday Night Live" show that Nader hosted are, for lack of a better word, surprising.
Editors Alexis Provost and Beth Gallagher cut back and forth between the talking heads so deftly that you have the illusion that Nader is answering his critics in real time in a very lively debate.
An Unreasonable Man
A Two Left Legs Productions
Credits:
Writers/directors/executive producers: Henriette Mantel, Steve Skrovan
Producer: Kevin O'Donnell
Directors of photography: Mark Raker, Leigh Wilson, John Chater, Matt Davis, Steve Elkins, Melissa Donavan, Sandra Chandler
Music: Joe Kraemer
Editor: Alexis Provost, Beth Gallagher
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 160 minutes...
- 1/25/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film Review: 'Rebels With a Cause'
At a time when grannies with walkers are protesting in Florida, Helen Garvey's documentary tracing the rise and fall of the '60s-era Students for a Democratic Society takes on a particular resonance.
The film traces the decade-long history of SDS, which started as a small student organization inspired by the civil rights struggles and became one of the leading forces in the anti-
Vietnam War movement, with more than 100,000 members, before disbanding in 1971. The film is receiving its New York theatrical premiere at the Screening Room.
Garvey was one of the leaders of SDS, so it comes as no surprise that her filmed account takes a fairly single-minded, positive approach to the organization. The film is best viewed as an oral history featuring interviews with about 20 pivotal and not-so-pivotal former members of the group; little is heard in the way of dissenting or outsider opinions.
Among those spotlighted are California state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles; former SDS presidents Alan Haber and Carl Oglesby; Bernadine Dohrn, who later joined the Weathermen, the group's militant and violent faction; and journalists Todd Gitlin and Juan Gonzalez.
The film is strictly of the talking heads variety, albeit with highly articulate, passionate ones. There is only the occasional use of archival photos and little film footage of the dramatic events discussed. The result is a static, talky effort that will be of more interest to scholars and historians than general audiences.
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
Zeitgeist Films
Director-producer-editor: Helen Garvey
Director of photography: Emiko Omori
Color
Running time - 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The film traces the decade-long history of SDS, which started as a small student organization inspired by the civil rights struggles and became one of the leading forces in the anti-
Vietnam War movement, with more than 100,000 members, before disbanding in 1971. The film is receiving its New York theatrical premiere at the Screening Room.
Garvey was one of the leaders of SDS, so it comes as no surprise that her filmed account takes a fairly single-minded, positive approach to the organization. The film is best viewed as an oral history featuring interviews with about 20 pivotal and not-so-pivotal former members of the group; little is heard in the way of dissenting or outsider opinions.
Among those spotlighted are California state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles; former SDS presidents Alan Haber and Carl Oglesby; Bernadine Dohrn, who later joined the Weathermen, the group's militant and violent faction; and journalists Todd Gitlin and Juan Gonzalez.
The film is strictly of the talking heads variety, albeit with highly articulate, passionate ones. There is only the occasional use of archival photos and little film footage of the dramatic events discussed. The result is a static, talky effort that will be of more interest to scholars and historians than general audiences.
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
Zeitgeist Films
Director-producer-editor: Helen Garvey
Director of photography: Emiko Omori
Color
Running time - 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/15/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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