Shadows of Liberty

Is your "news" station reporting more on singer Miley Cyrus than on foreign affairs, the government, pocketbook issues, or the environment? Filmmaker Jean-Phillipe Tremblay's documentary argues that the blame lies in factors including cost-cutting and media's growing tendency towards monopoly, which result in corporate conglomerations that slant the news, both national and local. The deregulation boom that began under Reagan in the business-friendly atmosphere of the 1980s has led to much of our news coming from large corporations, which not only try to avoid controversy—particularly when it cuts into the bottom line—but also don't draw much of a line between their profit-making agenda and the national interest. One example cited here is CBS News's decision to kill a story about sweatshop abuses in a Nike factory in Vietnam when Nike was a major sponsor of the CBS broadcast of the 1998 Winter Olympics (reporters were even shown wearing parkas sporting the Nike logo). More serious, of course, was the media organizations' cheerleading role in the government's run up to the War in Iraq in 2003. Other topics include the merger mania of the 1990s, which led to empty desks in the newsroom, stories that weren't covered, and newspapers that were either combined or folded. The documentary also casts a disapproving eye on "car wreck television," citing the news show To Catch a Predator, which possibly led to the suicide of a Texas judge. Interviewees including former CBS News reporter Dan Rather, actor Danny Glover, and infamous whistleblower Julian Assange weigh in here, although the film's left-leaning perspective sometimes leads to blanket statements and overreach (notably a segment implying a media cover-up of the 1996 downing of TWA Flight 800, which some claim was caused by a government missile). Thanks to the new and pervasive role of the Internet, the stakes for the free flow of information have never been higher, so this documentary—which is likely to raise blood pressure and spark heated discussions—is recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)