Special Bulletin, about MSM news coverage

[uppityperson]

Coverage of Haiti makes me think again about this 1983 made for tv movie about MSM coverage of news. It was playing when I went to a friend's house, had to sit and watch for a while because it seemed so real. The special effects are not very good, but overall as a movie about MSM news, it is scathing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086350/
"A TV reporter and cameraman are taken hostage on a tugboat while covering a workers strike. The demands of the hostage-takers are to collect all the nuclear detonators in the Charleston, SC area so they may be detonated at sea. They threaten to detonate a nuclear device of their own of their demand isnt met."

BUT this is NOT about the topic at hand (collecting nuclear detonators) but about MSM news coverage. They ran "dramatization" at the bottom of the screen, but still people panicked. I'd recommend it to anyone who is at all cynical about tv msm news coverage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Well been watching it but then again

as a former emergency worker I see things in it that tell me more of what is going on really in the field.

But yes, they emphasize the bad news and not the good news. Like food distribution has happened for a few more hours than you'd know.

[uppityperson]

2. if it bleeds, it leads. Sexying up the news is what they do rather than reporting news

manipulation of the masses. If you ever get a chance to watch this movie, please do so as it was very accurate then and even more so now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Funny, true and sad story at the same time

we responded to a kid who OD, and died from heroin....not much we could do

Slow day, so the local reporters showed up... from the local rags.

It took me a promise for the exclusive for the bloody one that night, and a bottle of whiskey for them to leave THIS ONE ALONE.

Oh and yes there WAS a bloody one that night... a very bloody one. They would have been there no matter what... little vultures that the yellow press is... actually the yellow press in Mexico is... worst than the American press. But the serious press won't touch those photos. So there is a balance, sort off.

[uppityperson]

4. "if you truly care about reporting the news and now selling ad time, you will shut us off now"

says a main character to the media people. "we will get coverage from another station". They stay on film and say "well, at least we know where you stand".

It gets difficult to tell what is real and what is not, from minor to major things.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Oh trust me... as my hubby puts it

as I watch this coverage I am trying to do signals intelligence and actually got a pretty good feeling of what is going on there.

We do have isolated riots, in the usual places... and overall the population is holding on. That said the concern about security is real. Once you bring in water to thirsty people you do need a few people with rifles. That will be enough to keep order and get them rehydrated.

[Newsjock]

5. Watch the whole thing here

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1117060296721382646&ei=yfBTS5L2O5rIqAPI94z5Bg

Wow, I was just looking for a clip to post here, but I seem to have found the whole thing.

[uppityperson]

8. Thank you, bookmarking to look at later when I have the time.

Thank you very much, very very much

[WCGreen]

6. I remember watching that back when it aired....

The same year that the Day After aired...

[Heddi]

7. I grew up in Charleston, and remember when that was on TV. It was HORRIFYING for a 7 year old

even with the "this is a dramatization" notice, it was so fucking surreal to me because they're showing all the places I know, that I go all the time...it was very real and I was quite freaked out for a long time, couldn't sleep, etc. Even my mom, who knew it was fake got pretty freaked out about it because, again, this was our *home*. It wasn't just some random city with fake street names and such. This was Charleston. they talked about the naval weapons station, just a few miles from my house. They shows city skyline.

Very well done, and very realistic. I remember hearing about the blowback from that for a long time. Many people thought it was quite real, despite the "dramatization" at the bottom of the screen.

[uppityperson]

10. I kept asking my friends "what is this?" & they kept shushing me

took a while to figure out it wasn't real, but then it was too close to reality.

Rather like when War of the Worlds aired on radio, but having the visuals must've been very scary.

[Name removed]

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