JOHN PILGER ("The War on Democracy") on with Bob McChesney NOW - stream link

[Bozita]

http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/default.htm

Pilger info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pilger

Criticism of 'mainstream' journalism

Pilger is a strong critic of the institutions and economic forces that structure 'mainstream' journalism. He is particularly scornful of pro-Iraq war commentators on the liberal left, or 'liberal interventionists', such as Nick Cohen and David Aaronovitch.

He said in an address at Columbia University on 14 April 2006:
“ During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. ‘I have to tell you,’ said their spokesman, ‘that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don’t have that. What’s the secret? How do you do it?’<3> ”

[Bozita]

1. 'The War on Democracy' - a synopsis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_on_Democracy

Synopsis

Two years in the making, 'The War on Democracy' is to be released in cinemas in the UK on Friday June 15th 2007, starting with the Curzon Soho, Barbican, Ritzy Brixton and Cornerhouse Manchester. The distributor is Lionsgate Films which, in the UK and the US, has played a leading part in the new wave of feature-length documentaries such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The US Versus John Lennon and Deliver Us From Evil.

'The War on Democracy' is John Pilger's first major film for the cinema in a career that has produced more than 55 television documentaries. Set in Latin America and the US, it explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. "The film tells a universal story," says Pilger, "analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called war on terror".

Pilger filmed in the US, where he conducted interviews with a number of renegade CIA agents who took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries and who today are profiting from the war in Iraq. Through undercover filming he investigates the ‘School of the Americas’ in Georgia, USA, where General Pinochet’s torture squads were trained, along with tyrants and death-squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.

Archive footage demonstrates how democracy has been wiped out in country after country in Latin America since the 1950s. Carl Deal, chief archivist on both ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ and Moore’s previous film, ‘Bowling for Columbine’ also brought his talent to this film, which was made in High Def with unseen archive footage. Use is made of testimonies from those who fought and suffered for democracy in Chile and Bolivia.

Filming in the Andean country of Bolivia shows that for the last five years huge popular movements have demanded that multinational companies be refused to access the country’s natural reserves of gas, or to buy up the water supply.

Pilger travelled through Venezuela with its president, Hugo Chavez, who he regards as the only leader of an oil-producing nation who has used its resources democratically for the education and health of its people. Despite being toppled from his presidency in 2002 by rich and powerful interests backed by the US, Chavez was brought back to power by the Venezuelan people.

[Gabi Hayes]

2. THANKS! McChesney's book, "Rich Media, Poor Democracy,"

is seminal for those who don't already realize just how bad things have become because of the concentration of media

and I can't wait for the usual suspects to start in about how Chavez is ANYthing but democratic. too bad this thread isn't getting any response, as the movie itself, as well as Pilger's work in general, deserve widespread attention.

I wonder what sort of reaction it will get in the US.....

[Bozita]

3. Check the audio archives of McChesney's show!

http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/default.htm

Media Matters with Bob McChesney

Sundays from 1 to 2 pm Central

This week on Media Matters

June 3, 2007 This week our guest is Barbara Ehrenreich, author most recently of Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

RealAudio | MP3 Download
Media Matters Archives

May 27, 2007 This week our guest is Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press

RealAudio | MP3 Download
May 20, 2007 This week our guest is Sundiata Cha-Jua. Prof. Cha-Jua is Director of the African American Studies and Research Program at the University of Illinois.

RealAudio | MP3 Download
May 13, 2007 This week our guest is actor and activist Mike Farrell. Best known for playing Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the television series M*A*S*H, Farrell has also been a life-long activist, focusing on issues such as human rights and the death penalty, as well as animal rights and environmental issues.

http://www.mikefarrell.org/

RealAudio | MP3 Download
May 6, 2007 This week our guest is Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author of Armed Madhouse

[IndyOp]

4. K&R for Pilger & McChesney! (n/t)