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Indie docs speak out
Phil Donahue was so enraged by coverage of the Iraq War that he came out of retirement. But instead of heading back to a network studio, where he had spent more than 30 years building his name as a talk-show host, he followed the lead of some of the most talented storytellers in media: He made an independent documentary.
Donahue's Body of War, co-directed with Ellen Spiro, tells the harrowing story of an American soldier who, returning home from Iraq paralyzed, begins fighting the system that sent him there. It's one of a growing number of provocative, ambitious and impassioned indie docs born, in part, out of frustration with the perceived inadequacy of the mainstream press.
"I believe these documentaries fill the giant black hole left by corporate media," Donahue said. "These [independent filmmakers] don't report to boardrooms. They don't fear making people angry."
"The mainstream reportage of Iraq either has blindly sided with the party line from Washington or has not asked the tough questions these filmmakers are willing to ask," he said, adding that war docs relate stories "you aren't really seeing in your daily newspapers or evening news. They are thinking outside of the box, coming at things from a different point of view."
Fearless War Docs Fight the Good Fight at Oscars
3 comments:
well i can tell you the media sure aint leaning towards washington's causes, otherwise we'd have a nation who support our soldiers rather than protesting their funerals. i agree that the right questions arent being asked, but they don't cover half the shit that's going on there to sweeten up the harsh realities. if you go somewhere like paris, youll see the brutality of the war and people dying and REAL images on tv, not the filtered crap we get. they sugarcoat it and make it seem like its a lost cause and that no real actions are being taken. its amazing to me how much of an opinion on the war so many people have when they are largely misinformed a majority of the time and rely on biased filtered information. i want some real coverage to start popping up instead of following britney spears through her fucking mental breakdowns
First off, the entire nation does not go around protesting the funerals of dead soldiers. Those individuals are part of a small group of religious fanatics who are using this as an opportunity to "spread the word"... or whatever they are trying to accomplish. On a daily basis I see more ads on tv, more bumper stickers and more yellow ribbons supporting our troops than I have ever seen these people at soldiers funerals televised on tv.
Secondly you have a group of people in power with one man in charge who as of right now has over half of the public in disfavor of his actions. And guess who took that poll? Fox News. I'm tired of this two party bullshit rhetoric that has become so common place these days. You say the media isn't supporting Washington's causes, but if they are so left wing and against the war, why isn't the mass media trying to ask these hard questions and put pressure on the president? France on the other hand is not with us in this war, they disagreed with the invasion of Iraq and because of this they can show the realties of the war and it wouldn't go against their goals. Our nations approach to coverage on the war can not be compared to a nation who isn't even involved in the war.
Thidly you stated in another reply on this blog that Fox News shows both sides of a story, which would mean they have done the best job in covering the war. You also say that because of this they are the most watched new station in the country. Yet here you go on to say "its amazing to me how much of an opinion on the war so many people have when they are largely misinformed a majority of the time and rely on biased filtered information."
Lastly, yes I'm sure we are all tired of Britney and her life spiraling downward. But when you have '24/7' 'news' networks like Fox News or MSNBC or CNN, you have to fill in about 23 of those hours with something. If you want the real news, watch something like 60 Mins, or the Nightly news on ABC or NBC; not one of these bullshit 'news' casts that is on 24/7.
firstly; there are plenty of people with bumper stickers who "support the troops but not the war" which is pretty ridiculous to me because theyre out there dying and putting in efforts and all for what? when people say they dont support the cause it hits low on the morale of the soldiers.
secondly; i agree with the two party bullshit, seems like all the parties do anymore is tear each other down. there are NUMEROUS more accounts, documentaries, and acrticles highlighting and editing the key issues against the iraq war, there are very few outlets of support for the war besides some yellow bumper stickers, that i personally have seen.
i understand your point about france, i just dont understand why our media in general wont stop bullshitting us and get us in on the real story
i trust fox news because after watching many other newssttions ive seen the types of information covered and the underlying messages being broadcast, and through this i have found that their information is the most credible; however, i dont ONLY rely on fox news, i still catch other news networks and daily read yahoo news which im pretty sure is liberal leaning as well, so i dont feel im being fed totally biased information with the variety if news sources i have.
those 24 hour newscast stations still have a prime-time and cover the main news during prime-time and fill in with the britney spears of the world the rest of the time, but you wont catch me watching 60 minutes, lol. msnbc, maybe, nbc, maybe, abc, no.
im working on it! :)
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