"The BNP represents Britain's workers? They don't even represent basic British craftsmanship" - a response to the recent political broadcast by the UKs far right extremists the BNP, who are currently trying to exploit expenses scandals hiting the larger parties. Weirdly despite demanding British jobs for British workers their advertising uses American models.
posted by Artw on May 18, 2009 - 83 comments

Fantasy Meets Reality. The very best works of science fiction illuminate controversial current events and the intricacies of human nature. So, it's no surprise that the United Nations Public Information Department and the Sci Fi (SyFy?) Channel co-hosted a panel yesterday evening on "humanitarian concerns" at the UN, with the creators and actors of Battlestar Galactica -- a show which regularly explores those themes. A 2-hour video webcast is archived here. (RealPlayer video). Entertainment Weekly has an additional write-up. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Mar 18, 2009 - 57 comments

Mock the Vote: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert interviewed.
posted by Artw on Sep 25, 2008 - 41 comments

A West Wing Writer Imagines a Deadlocked Democratic Convention
posted by shivohum on Apr 13, 2008 - 59 comments

The Wire is dissent; it argues that our systems are no longer viable for the greater good of the most, that America is no longer operating as a utilitarian and democratic experiment. An already-quite-good discussion about The Wire, originating in Mark Bowden's Atlantic article ('The Angriest Man in Television') and continuing through Mark Bowden's post on the show's nihilistic bleakness gets even more interesting on Matt Yglesias's blog, where the creator of the show stops by to give his opinion on what it's all supposed to mean.
posted by gerryblog on Jan 3, 2008 - 76 comments

The Daily Colbert Show Report returns January 7th! ...sorta. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Dec 21, 2007 - 135 comments

Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose - on display: Thoughtful Visionary as well as Political Animal; cf. Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter.
posted by kliuless on Dec 16, 2007 - 55 comments

VisibleVote08.com On Thursday, August 9th, at 9PM EST, the LOGO television network along with the Human Rights Campaign are going to host a televised forum with some of the leading Democratic presidential candidates for the discussion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trangendered issues. According to the network, if you are unable to see the program on cable, it will be available to you live via the special website. And as of August 2nd, surfers are invited to submit questions to be asked of the candidates live.
posted by FunkyHelix on Aug 1, 2007 - 27 comments

The Flow, by Paul Myerscough

That image gives way, quickly and successively, to a series of others: a young black woman smoking, smiling at the camera through a reinforced glass window; three teenage girls in a car, laughing, filmed through the windscreen; a whip-pan to the American flag, pierced by sunlight, drifting in the breeze; a DIY programme on a pixellated TV screen; a ride-along shot of a family in an oversized golf buggy; two different angles of a man alone in a lecture theatre; two more of traffic at night; a woman, suspicious of the camera, wearing a polka-dot dress and partly obscured by glassy reflections; a blurry shot of a long windowless corridor; a man wearing shades in a crowded street; a woman pursued down the cosmetics aisle of a supermarket; and, as Curtis comes to the end of his three short sentences, a woman seen jogging in the wing-mirror of a moving car. The entire sequence takes 26 seconds. There’s too much to take in. Or, you don’t know what you’ve taken in, and how deep the impression has been.

posted by acro on Jun 20, 2007 - 18 comments

Chomsky v. Buckley, 1969 (videofilter). The primary subject is Vietnam, but other topics abound.
posted by bardic on Jan 23, 2007 - 55 comments

Tony Snow On President Bush: ‘An Embarrassment,’ It seems clear now that we will have Snow In Late April as the Bush appointment to be the new press spokesman. Snow comes to the lawn of the White House all the way from Fox News, where he represented their view of Fair and balanced. So balanced in fact that he said things such as this: "“No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [9/30/05]. But that was then and this is now and so can we assume that suddenly Bush will be seen as a masterful leader of his nation?
posted by Postroad on Apr 25, 2006 - 63 comments

"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.
posted by jne1813 on Feb 2, 2006 - 34 comments

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
posted by kliuless on May 26, 2005 - 4 comments

Any experts out there? Have you been asked to do a show, called "The Debate Show" on "an MTV network"? Well look out: IT'S A TRAP! "The Debate Show" is actually a new Comedy Central program called Crossballs, a "smart, comedic spoof of programs such as Crossfire, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and the entire Fox News Network..." A second amendment activist emerged from a taping with extremely twisted knickers, whilst a privacy advocate barely escaped (this account via bOINGbOING). I'm torn: part of me wants to see the show, and part of me wants to see if enough attention on the web can ruin it...
posted by PinkStainlessTail on Jun 21, 2004 - 62 comments

The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to run ads from the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that criticize President Bush, charging that the left-leaning political group is paying for them with money raised in violation of the new campaign-finance law.
posted by jasenlee on Mar 8, 2004 - 74 comments

Viacom's CBS today rejected a request from liberal group MoveOn to air a 30-second anti-President Bush ad, saying the spot violated the network's policy against running issue advocacy advertising. This, despite running anti-drug and anti-smoking ads. So, is it only issues about which they disagree?
posted by dejah420 on Jan 16, 2004 - 57 comments

CBS may cancel 'The Reagans' mini-series over GOP protests. Rep. John Dingall has some thoughts on the matter: As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling.
posted by skallas on Nov 4, 2003 - 102 comments

Michael Savage claims that his listeners can't tell the difference between michaelsavage.com (the link didn't work? oops!) and savagestupidity.com, apparently not aware that in these days of cybersquatting, it pays to NOT pick you AKA from the dictionary.

And while on the subject, let it be known that he who now calls homosexual "perverts" was once on "dear" terms with Allen Ginsberg
posted by magullo on Jun 11, 2003 - 21 comments

The West Wing debunker. I have grown to hate this show even though I agree with its politics. The show occasionally brings up interesting topics but it is so goddamned sanctimonious. I worry that people think this is how our executive branch works. I hope this isn't a double post.
posted by McBain on Oct 18, 2002 - 46 comments

The Truth Squad - ABC News wants your help. Specifically, the ABCNEWS Political Unit Election Watchdog (PUEW), looking to keep upcoming elections as truthful as possible, wants you to gather up your election mail; take notes about the campaign-related phone calls you get; and send them your tips and credible accounts, so that they can go through them. They have a page of descriptions of what they are looking for. Are they expecting things to be particularly ugly? Are they trying to dig something up, or is this really an attempt to neutralize election season lies?
posted by mikhail on Sep 27, 2002 - 8 comments

What about Blinky? (Link to PDF) CA Governor's candidate Bill Simon is taking an interesting approach in his campaign to appeal to a generation... a generation of Simpson fans. In this PDF, he compares incumbent Grey Davis to Mr. Burns... and how Blinky brought down Mr. Burns' campaign.
posted by darian on Aug 1, 2002 - 13 comments

Right-Wing Bullies Caught in Crossfire "No doubt all of the above qualities irritate the conservatives who follow party instructions to shun Crossfire. What has shocked them is that the new hosts don’t quite fit TV’s stereotypical 97-pound liberal, ready to be worked over like a talking speedbag. Mr. Carville is a tall, rangy Marine veteran, sports fanatic and jock; Mr. Begala is a born-and-bred Texan who grew up with guns and still likes to hunt. Both have expressed their powerful distaste for the Democratic tendency to wilt under attack."
posted by owillis on Apr 14, 2002 - 46 comments

PBS's Televangelist: "Moyers's difficulty conversing with people on the right seems to have impaired his ability to report their opinions fairly, particularly on issues of race. "The right gets away with blaming liberals for their efforts to help the poor, but what the right is really objecting to is the fact that the poor are primarily black," he told Alterman. "The man who sits in the White House today [George H.W. Bush] opposed the Civil Rights Act. So did Ronald Reagan. This crowd is really fighting a retroactive civil rights war to prevent the people they dislike because of their color from achieving success in American life."" (via medianews)
posted by owillis on Feb 18, 2002 - 43 comments

What did you think of West Wing last night? Beyond the fact that it was preachy and simplistic, did you think that it was a good or bad approach to handling complex issues through a show that is respected for presenting political dialogues in a pop culture format? Additionally, what do you think of the way in which pop culture seems to have returned to normal? This topic appears in both the NY Times and USA Today, today, as it becomes clear that prime time ratings are stronger than ever after the attacks.
posted by wsfinkel on Oct 4, 2001 - 27 comments

Bill Maher calls U.S. cowardly; FedEx pulls ads from show It looks like that "Freedom of Speech" thing is too much for some people to handle. What do expect from a show like this? If you can't handle it, don't watch it.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet on Sep 19, 2001 - 86 comments

CNN & FOX: Birds of a feather? In an effort to improve his network's image with conservative leaders, new CNN chief Walter Isaacson huddled with House and Senate GOP leaders last week to seek advice on how to attract more right-leaning viewers to the sagging network.
posted by Rastafari on Aug 5, 2001 - 10 comments

Is media bias real? MRC has an interesting collection of quotes by the big 3 news anchors comparing how they treated Clinton & GW Bush on the same issue - abortion. It sure looks like bias to me, but then again, I'm biased.
posted by schlyer on Feb 5, 2001 - 36 comments

Television networks are changing their election night coverage techiques. Both NBC and CBS have announced their changes for how they cover national elections in the future so as to save face with the audience. If this was Japanese TV, they would have dropped the show producers in a vat of acid by now. Oh well.
posted by Brilliantcrank on Jan 4, 2001 - 11 comments

Political television ads. Lots of them. Just in case you didn't know. Go crazy.
posted by Mo Nickels on Nov 3, 2000 - 0 comments

Reuters 09/22 6:34PM -- NBC, which in August bid for the exclusive right to host a presidential debate, said on Friday it would broadcast a baseball game instead of the first showdown between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. "We have a contract with major-league baseball. You don't seriously think we have any interest in democracy, do you?,'' said NBC spokeswoman Barbara Levin. "If we were offerred more than the value of the baseball contract, we would be televising it.''
posted by sudama on Sep 22, 2000 - 6 comments

Bush: 342 / Gore: 224
Bush leads Gore in the number of jokes made about him on late night talk shows.
posted by tamim on Sep 19, 2000 - 0 comments

I approached this review expecting it to be of the "major media providers are the problem, not the solution" sort, but discovered something somewhat different: "It’s not that the medium of the modern political campaign–television advertising–failed to do justice to men of substance, but that men of substance failed to adapt to television advertising..."
posted by dcehr on Aug 7, 2000 - 3 comments