MetaFilter posts tagged with television and media

Advertising in the public interest

Rhaomi — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:54:54 -0800

"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty: Library - Diner - Church. Together with more positive ads like Remember Freedom and I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their freedoms and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism (seven years previously). The campaign was the work of the Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all effective PSAs on everything from student invention to global warming to arts education to community service.

Additional resources: A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns - Campaigns organized by category - Award-winning campaigns - PSA Central: A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs (registration req'd) - An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] - YouTube channel - Vimeo channel - Twitter feed

Persuasion: Why men in ads are dumb, goofy or completely inept

five fresh fish — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:47:44 -0800

Persuasion: Why men in ads are dumb, goofy or completely inept. Several YT commercials and a thoughtful essay.

20 Years Of Supercilious Gits

Fiasco da Gama — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:59:17 -0800

Twenty years old this year, fifteen-minute long Australian television programme Media Watch criticises television and print journalism. (Previously).

Dagger of the Mind

Artw — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:01:13 -0800

The SF Signal Mind Meld feature poses science fiction related questions to a number of SF luminaries and the scientist, science writer or blogger. Subjects have included the best women writers in SF, taboo topics in SF, underated authors and the most controversial SF novels of the past and present. The also cover lighter topics, such the role of media tie-ins, how Battlestar Galactica could have ended better (bonus Geoff Ryman) and the realistic (or otherwise) use of science on TV SF shows.

Museum of the Moving Image

netbros — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:33:31 -0800

Moving Image Source is devoted to the history of film, television, and digital media. It features original articles by leading critics, authors, and scholars; a calendar that highlights major retrospectives, festivals, and gallery exhibitions at venues around the world; and a regularly updated guide to online research resources. Currently featured articles include Nervous About Nixon? from David Schwartz, chief curator of the museum; The People's Director, a look at Chinese filmmaker Xie Jin; and Lessons in Darkness, extreme precipices and gray areas in the films of Barbet Schroeder.

(Internetworking Frequency, 2.4 gigacycles.)

TheOnlyCoolTim — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:36:35 -0800

The Early Television Foundation and Museum Website covers the nascent days of the nation's pastime, with interesting items like mechanical TVs and programming schedules from 1939.

Meta-Media

lunit — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:05:07 -0800

"Lost is a far more ambitious piece of media, which uses the entire web as its canvas and its entire audience as its creators. I'd suggest this piece of work - Lost, when viewed in its entirety - is truly new."

This are the world.

parmanparman — Sun, 25 May 2008 11:32:54 -0800

The Japanese master intercultural stereotyping. Is it racist when non-whites do blackface?

Take your forms wrestled from the void and get the hell out

1f2frfbf — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:37:48 -0800

Wayne White's paintings Wayne Who? He left Tennessee to study at the New York School of Visual Arts with Art Speigelman (he posed holding a broomstick for some of the characters in Maus) and Red Grooms. He came back to Tennessee to do puppetry work for a children's show called Mrs. Cabobble's Caboose, (5th link down, mpg) which in turn caught the attention of CBS who hired him to do the set direction for Pee Wee's Playhouse (I'll defer to this excellent post for Pee Wee videos), for which he played Mr Kite, Randy and Roger the Monster. Where else have you seen his work? The video for Peter Gabriel's "Big Time", and the video for the Smashing Pumpkin's "Tonight, Tonight". This was inspired by my tiny little comment here and he seems to be mentioned in passing here and here. Also: Waxy weighs in along with jonson, his IMDb profile and his Wikipedia entry. Not for use with some sets, consult doctor before taking internally.

this was our president

kliuless — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:25:14 -0800

Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose - on display: Thoughtful Visionary as well as Political Animal; cf. Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter.

FCC Moves to Change Ownership Rules Again

McLir — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:19:34 -0800

The FCC, again, moves to loosen ownership rules for television and newspapers. A similar proposal in 2003 drew huge public opposition. This time, there is a narrow window for public comment, ending in mid-November. You can contact the FCC or go to the Common Cause page. From Common Cause: "After the FCC's misguided 2003 vote, more than 3 million Americans voiced their concerns about media consolidation to the FCC and Congress. In the Senate, a resolution rolling back the rules sponsored by Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), passed overwhelming. Media activists sued the FCC over the rules changes, and they were vindicated by a federal district court in Philadelphia. In 2004, the court threw out the flawed rules, in part because the FCC had not considered public input in the rulemaking." As in 2003, lawmakers are threatening another non-binding "veto." Wiki background.

Perverted Justice & Dateline NBC: Repsonsbile for Conradt's death? Yea/Nay/Otherwise.

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:09:55 -0800

The Shame Game. Perverted Justice (prev.) and Dateline NBC's series of To Catch A Predator specials are of questionable-at-best morality and have received much fl ak, particularly on the part of the former party. At the Columbia Journalism review, Douglas McCollum shares the case of Louis Conradt Jr., who killed himself upon being pounced upon by police and Dateline's cameras. McCollum also takes issue with NBC's paying of Perverted Justice for their services. And, for the other side, PJ's rebuttal.

Toob to Beeb

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 13:38:40 -0800

"I feel guilty because I have friends that are working really hard to get into television or acting and I'm just sitting here having not done anything more than enjoy playing with gadgets."

Susi Weaser (24) makes little one-minute gadget reviews and posts them on YouTube . The BBC must have liked them - because they hired her.

Enough Rope with Andrew Denton

sjvilla79 — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:39:15 -0800

Oodles of past and current interviews with both living and dead celebrities and interesting nobodies over at the support website for Andrew Denton's Australian television show Enough Rope. You will find video excerpts, some full interviews as audio downloads (the more recent ones), and lots of transcripts.

"Those Who Trespass", a Pornographic Work by Bill O'Reilly --- An Audio Excerpt

jne1813 — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 18:44:16 -0800

"Those Who Trespass", a Pornographic Work by Bill O'Reilly -- An Audio Excerpt This is an audio excerpt from Bill O'Reilly's fictional novel. I found it quite hilarious. Move over Dickens, Bill O'Reilly is in town.

NOISE

sjvilla79 — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:58:54 -0800

NOISE is a global youth arts initiative (under 25s) that develops and profiles artists and their work across television, radio, in print and online. Requires Flash. [MI]

He's a family guy!

SirOmega — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:22:10 -0800

The Parents Television Council has released their list of the top 10 worst shows for family viewing. The Fox network led the way with six of the ten shows, Family Guy, American Dad, The War at Home, The O.C., That 70s Show and Arrested Devlopment. The PTC also released a top-nine list of shows that are family friendly (they claim they couldn't find a 10th show to complete the list), leading the way is Three Wishes and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They also accuse Fox of being deceptive with their marketing of their Sunday night lineup, and using cartoons to pedal the "filth" to children.

Where America Meets the World

kliuless — Thu, 26 May 2005 19:37:13 -0800

Foreign Exchange TV with Fareed Zakaria - I'd heard about it, but thought it was only showing on OPB; checked again and lo and behold all the episodes are online! Watched a couple episodes so far; they're pretty good, esp if you're into foreign policy and stuff :D

After all, it's the wave of the future, wave of the future, wave of the future, ...

kliuless — Mon, 23 May 2005 04:17:45 -0800

Steven Levy and Mark Pesce on the future of television. Oh and Conan O'brien! :D [via]

TiVo close to Comcast deal

MattD — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 04:32:27 -0800

TiVo saved? After a grim 4Q04 conference call, focusing on bells and whistles for which there's little evidence of customer demand, it's now reported that TiVo is on the verge of striking a deal with Comcast to integrate TiVo software and services into Comcast's integrated tuner-DVRs. TiVo needs this deal very, very badly...

blonde bimboesque and ugly pitbull guy anchors (except for closetcase Shep Smith), everpresent American flag graphics, never anything good to say about, or to Democrats....

amberglow — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:21:08 -0800

Hey Canada! Now you can "Shut Up! Shut Up!" too.
Are our nice, polite, enlightened neighbors to our north really ready for Fox News?

Fred's at it again

eas98 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 08:35:04 -0800

Reflections On Our Media of Communication. Traditional news media vs. the internet. Are people really abandoning TV, paper, and radio news? Does the 'net really offer the best in free-press? The ever lovable Fred thinks so, and he's not afraid to tell you why.

Simpsons stars strike for more 'D'oh!'

BurnedEve — Fri, 02 Apr 2004 09:43:30 -0800

Simpson stars strike for more 'D'oh!' The voices of the Simpsons are on strike for $360,000 an episode. Seems almost reasonable for such a pop culture phenomenon, but the voiceover work equates to one work day per episode.

State of the News Media

Slagman — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 23:01:30 -0800

State of the Media Report 2004 by journalism.org, which seeks to improve news coverage in a more neutral fashion than those who cry bias from the left and right. The group offers advice for average citizens and others. The report focuses mainly on US media and identifies eight trends. The content analyses finds that newspapers have more lifestyle news than in the past, but less government and foreign affairs, even with wars abroad. More front page articles about issues, less on crime and disasters. Network news was heavy on foreign affairs, government, accidents, disaster, crime and health care. The cable networks had a lot of politics and Iraq stuff, but also a lot more celebrity/entertainment/lifestyle stuff than the big four. Local TV news treats crime as topic A. The magazine audience is aging, and total pages are declining, but some, like The Economist and the New Yorker, have found success in niches. Internet journalism is "still largely material from old media rather than something original." And it's still text-y. But it is clearly the future of journalism. But don't pronounce the dinosaurs dead yet. Radio once ruled, and in a way it still does: 94 percent still tune in to radio news at least once a week.

Media Misinformation

grrarrgh00 — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 06:25:41 -0800

From the Asia Times — "The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington on Thursday." [more inside]