Tv For The Greater Good

TV for the Greater Good •

Excerpt from the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 The Congress hereby finds and declares that ... it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes; ... public television and radio stations and public telecommunications services constitute valuable local community resources for utilizing electronic media to address national concerns and solve local problems through community programs and out-reach programs; ... a private corporation should be created to facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.

TV for the Greater Good • Non-profit • No political affiliation • Members of CPB not selected for political affiliations • No government oversight • “Diversity of source and objective balance…” • No control over individual stations

TV for the Greater Good • Recent controversies – Latino point of view not included Ken Burns documentary, The War – Editing of several documentaries for content in fear of FCC fines – Bush slashed funding repeatedly – Former head of CPB introduced “bias ratings” to make executive decisions on programming such as Bill Moyers’ Now

TV for the Greater Good • Public Access Television • The FCC mandated "beginning in 1972, new cable systems [and after 1977, all cable systems] in the 100 largest television markets be required to provide channels for government, for educational purposes, and most importantly, for public access."

TV for the Greater Good • A 1979 Supreme Court decision struck down the 1972 FCC ruling on the grounds that they had no authority to mandate access as that belongs to the U.S. Congress alone • Rapidly expanding cable companies used public access channels as leverage when negotiating deals with city governments

TV for the Greater Good • Often controversial • Media deregulation & the Internet threaten its continued existence • Government support eroding

http://www.saveaccess.org/

The Up Series • “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” Jesuit Maxim

The Up Series • Was never intended to be a series • All participants were born in 1956 • Began in 1964 as a political documentary examining class structure but evolved into a study of human nature • Kids chosen at random • "an inspired, almost noble  use, of the film medium."  Roger Ebert

The Up Series • All directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, The World Is Not Enough) except for 7 Up • Style is maintained throughout the series • All participants have degrees of resentment about participation

The Up Series • Includes children of privilege, the middle class and the working class

The Up Series • Only one of the working class subjects sent their child to university • Does the director project values of happiness & success onto participants?

The Up Series • Is a person formed by the age of seven?

The Up Series • "An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates • Other franchises in South Africa, Germany, Russia & the U.S.

The Up Series • And The Simpsons

Springfield Up!

TV for the Greater Good • Other styles – Michael Moore - The Culture of Confrontation – Court Jester of Documentary – Roger & Me, Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, TV Nation, The Awful Truth

TV for the Greater Good • Other styles: – – – – –

The Interrotron

Errol Morris Documentaries Re-enactments Commercials The Interrotron

TV for the Greater Good • Was rejected by the Oscars for Best Documentary category in 1989 because it was considered to be a non-fictional film due to its scripted content.

TV for the Greater Good • Terror & Interview

The Interrotron

– Errol Morris: – “Well, when I first used it, which was in Fast, Cheap, the concern was: will people really tolerate this sort of thing? What happens is you bring someone into this studio, sit them down in front of this weird contraption, and ask them talk to a live video image. Will they just run screaming from the room? And the answer is no. They love it. And my production designer after the first use of this device said well, the beauty of it is that it lets people do what they do best, namely watch TV. “